Dreaming to Reality
by Yuki Ryu
Summary: Even during peace, conflict is no stranger. Can Impmon learn to trust again after his trust is heartlessly ripped apart once more? Can Takato learn to see past what is before him and find the other half of a story? Discontinued for rewrite.
1. First Impressions

Authors' Notes: We have collaborated into making our own Digimon fanfic together!  We hope ye enjoy it!  We don't own Digimon sadly, but since Toei's done with Tamers we'll happily give all those characters a new home.  ^_^

This is a continuation story of after the ending of Digimon Tamers, so there will be possible Spoilers; none yet but possibly later.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 1: First Impressions_**

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      Impmon scowled at the scene before him, or rather beneath him, as he sat on a high tree limb.  On the ground below him, Takato Matsuda and Jenrya Lee, along with their digimon Guilmon and Terriermon, were playing and having fun together.  They were all playing tag, with Guilmon currently being the one who was 'it'.

      "Look at those stupid humans and their digi-slaves," Impmon muttered irritably to no one in particular.  "Don't those dumb digimon realize they don't need those idiot humans?"  He looked away from the scene as Guilmon had found Takato and they started mock wrestling playfully together after Takato had been found.  "What losers."

      Impmon made a face of disgust.  While looking away kept him from seeing the Tamers and digimon play, it didn't prevent him from hearing their delighted laughter.  He let out an annoyed growl and stood, fangs bared.  "I can't take this anymore!" he snapped.

      The Tamers and digimon looked up at the yelling to see an angry Impmon, who then hopped down from the tree and glared at them.  "You know, you losers really take the cake, you know that?" he sneered.

      Jenrya rolled his eyes while Takato sighed in exasperation.  "What did we do now to upset the 'almighty Impmon'?" Terriermon asked sarcastically.

      Guilmon just blinked at Impmon in confusion.  "I didn't even know there was any cake," he said innocently.

      "There's no cake!  It was just a figure of speech, you dumb dino!" Impmon snapped at Guilmon.  He turned his attention to Terriermon next.  "As for what you did to upset me this time, it's the same thing as every other time!"

      "Constipation?" Terriermon quipped.  Impmon blinked, then glared as his cheek twitched.

      "Takatomoooon?  What's constipation?" Guilmon asked his Tamer innocently.

      Takato sweat-dropped and rubbed his head nervously.  "I'll... explain it to you later, Guilmon," he said, embarrassed.

      Impmon growled and began to stomp his foot, agitated.  "I'll GIVE ya CONSTIPATION!" he snarled, pointing a claw threateningly at the Tamers.

      "Eww!  Go to the bathroom if you're going to do that!" Terriermon said with mock disgust.

      "Terriermon, don't encourage him," Jenrya scolded.

      "WHAT!?!  THAT'S IT!" Impmon shrieked, waving his fists hysterically.  "I'M GONNA-!"

      Before anyone could react, a hideous shriek pierced the air.

      "LOOK OUT!  NO BRAKES!  NO BRAKES!!"

      "Whuh?" Impmon paused and looked up just in time for the owner of said voice to collide into him at high speeds.

      Impmon shrieked and flailed, unable to do much else as certain pain loomed over him upon expected impact.  Needless to say, it surprised him when he was scooped up and carried for a few yards before the person responsible finally came to a halt.  Impmon blinked repeatedly, then looked up in disbelief.

      Holding him was a teenaged girl with long blond, violet-streaked hair and violet eyes.  It was apparent that she was a roller-blader from the violet roller-blades, with matching padding and helmet she wore over a white T-shirt, white stretch pants, jean jacket, and jean shorts.  She had a pair of rings piercing her left ear with a tiny chain attached to each, and a small teardrop shaped jewel dangling from the chain.  She had a similarly made hair ornament clipped onto the back of her hair.

      Impmon blinked once, then twice, before he puffed his cheeks up and glared.  "WATCH where ya' going, toots!" he barked.

      "SORRY!" the girl yelped apologetically.  "Are you okay, kiddo?"  She then looked over Impmon for injury.

      "PUT ME DOWN!" Impmon barked, totally ignoring her concern with his usual rudeness.

      "Wow, nice Impmon costume...," she commented off-handedly before wincing at his demand.  "Oh, right, sorry!"  She quickly obeyed, setting Impmon down onto the asphalt.

      Impmon huffed and stomped before he turned about and stalked away.  "It AIN'T a costume, TOOTS."

      The girl blinked blankly at Impmon, slowly.  "It's not?" she asked, confused.  "Really good make up then?"

      Impmon smirked and stuck his tongue out at the girl, pulling down an eyelid in the process.  "In your dreams!  There ain't enough make up in the world to make someone look this good!"

      "There isn't enough make up in the world to make YOU look good!" a tiny voice quipped from the bushes.  "Except maybe monster movie make up."

      "OI!" Impmon whirled and growled, shaking a fist at the bushes.  "COME OUTTA THERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE!  MON TO MON!"

      "Make me," the voice quipped.

      "Terriermon, be quiet," Jenrya hissed at the bushes.

      "Takatomon, what's make up?" another voice asked.

      "Shh!" Takato hissed quietly at the bushes.  "I'll explain later."

      "Baah, you bunch of digi-slaves!" Impmon sneered.  "I betcha you're too afraid to come out!"

      The girl blinked again and stared at Impmon, not paying attention to the argument with the apparent talking bushes.  "So...  You mean to say you're real?" she asked, disbelievingly.

      "You catch on real quick, toots," Impmon snickered as he tossed a grin at the girl.  "You're lookin' at the real deal, ya know?"

      The girl stared in silence for a few moments as her eyes widened.  Then in an instant she was kneeling down on the ground, scooping up Impmon into her arms, and glomping him.  "WOOOOW, SO COOOOL!" she squealed.  "A real live Impmon!"

      "WHA-!" Impmon squeaked, then squirmed violently.  "LET GO!  STOP IT!  HEEEY!"

      "This is so unbearably cool!" she squealed happily as she snuggled Impmon in her arms.  "Impmon are my most favorite type of digimon in the whole world!"

      To add insult to injury, loud snickering came from the bushes because of Impmon's plight.  The two Tamers couldn't help but sweat-drop nervously at the sight of a girl older than they were reacting in such a way to meeting a digimon.

      Impmon felt his cheeks turn bright red, which only infuriated him more.  He squirmed, yowling and waving his arms.  "LET GO!!  NOW!  HEY!  NO MUSHY STUFF!  HEEEEY!"

      The girl continued to hold Impmon in a firm glomp as she snuggled him against her, ignoring his protests.  "You're so CUTE!"

      The snickering in the bushes turned into full-blown cackling at that comment.

      "I AM NOT!" Impmon shrieked.  "COOL, maybe.  BUT I AM NOT CUTE!"

      "Well yes, you're cool, but mostly cute," the girl pointed out cheerfully.

      "I am NOT CUTE!" Impmon insisted, venomously.

      "Yes you are," the girl responded cheerfully.

      "Aww... don't be so hard on yourself, Impmon," a voice cackled from the bushes.  "You'we the cootest widdle digimon awound!"

      "I AM NOT!" Impmon roared.

      "Takatomon," the other voice in the bushes suddenly said with a sense of urgency.  "I smell a digimon!"

      "What?" Takato gasped.  "Where?"

      Guilmon emerged from the bushes, sniffing the air, before pointing off towards a group of trees.  "There!" he said as his eyes shrank to slits, preparing to battle.

      Jenrya looked at Guilmon and Takato, his expression becoming serious before he looked back at the bushes.  "Come on, Terriermon," he said, knowing that hiding the digimon was pointless now.

      "Aww...  Can't I make fun of Impmon some more first?" Terriermon said teasingly as he hopped out of the bushes.  He was trying to stop laughing at Impmon's plight, but was ultimately failing at it.

      "JUST TRY IT, YOU-!" Impmon struggled and tugged at the girl's arm.  "PUT ME DOWN!"

      "Terriermon," Jenrya muttered in exasperation at his partner.

      "Right, right, Jen," Terriermon said with regret before hopping onto Jenrya's shoulder.  He couldn't help but smirk at Impmon.  "You just sit tight, CUTEY."

      "I'LL SHOW YOU 'CUTEY', YA BUNNY RABBIT FREAK!" Impmon yowled.  He kicked violently at thin air.  "PUT... ME... DOWN!!!"

      The girl mulled Impmon's demand over for a moment.  "Nah, I don't think so," she said cheerfully as she stood up.

      "Heh..."

      The sound of footsteps echoed as the bushes rustled violently.  Seconds later, a lean boy slipped in to view.

      The boy looked to be no older than the Tamers, with messy brown hair and tired looking gray-blue eyes.  He had bags under each eye, which seemed to cast him in a tired light.  He wore loose fitting dark blue jeans, a black vest with matching black belt over a soft gray shirt.  Resting on his feet, comfortably, were black and gray sneakers.  Completing the outfit was a large black backpack with silver trim, which he carried almost casually.

      The boy blinked slowly, then grinned humorlessly.  "... So violent."

      "Eh?  Who the heck?" Impmon blinked, then scowled and resumed struggling violently.  "LET GO, YA CRAZY GIRL!"

      The Tamers and their digimon turned to look at the newcomer, Guilmon growling lowly as he still had the scent of a strange new digimon.

      The boy turned to look at Guilmon, his expression surprisingly calm and almost mocking.  "Is he normally this friendly?"

      "Who are you?" Takato asked the boy.  He then glanced with confusion and concern at Guilmon.  "Calm down, boy," he whispered to his partner.

      Guilmon didn't seem to listen as he continued to growl, his ear-wings bristling slightly.

      "Heh," the boy chuckled, dryly.  "You're a Tamer?  Your own digimon doesn't even listen to you.  How... pathetic."

      "You know about Tamers?" Jenrya asked, wondering if this new boy was a Tamer as well.

      "Hmm hmmm hmmm," was the boy's only response.

      Impmon simply hung in the girl's arms, thoroughly exhausted and bewildered at how strong the girl was.  "... Bleh...," he grumbled.

      The girl held Impmon closely to herself as she glanced over at the boys.  "Neat, a Terriermon and another digimon," she muttered off-handedly.  She then snuggled Impmon closer with a grin.  "You're still cooler than both of them though," she chirped.

      "... At least we agree on something," Impmon muttered, darkly.  The girl just giggled in response.

      "Who are you?" Takato repeated to the boy.

      "Hmmmm," the boy looked at Takato levelly, before he tilted his head and smirked.  "Yours first, if you don't mind."

      "... I'm Takato Matsuda," Takato said hesitantly.

      "Jenrya Lee," Jenrya said, uncertain of what to make of the strange boy.

      The boy turned to look directly at the digimon, each in turn, before looking up at Takato expectantly.

      "Oh, right," Takato muttered.  "This is Guilmon, and Terriermon," he said as he gestured to each digimon in turn.

      "And that digimon being cuddled to death is CUTEYPIEMON," Terriermon snickered as he pointed at Impmon.

      "IMPMON, and don't you forget it, ya reject!" Impmon snarled.

      Guilmon continued to growl in the newcomer's direction, his entire body tense as if he expected an attack at any moment.

      "Hmmm," the boy drawled again, then turned to look directly at the girl.  "I know your name.  Sera, isn't it?  Sera Mitsukai."

      'Sera' blinked at her name being called as she turned to look at the boy.  "Yes, that's my name," she confirmed, confused.  "How do you know that?  I don't think I've ever met you before, have I?"

      The boy simply grinned, then turned to look at Guilmon.

      "He looks like a rabid animal when he does that," the boy observed, before he let out another dry laugh and straightened his shoulders.  "I'm Tsuyosa Tengoku."

      "Tengoku...?" Sera asked thoughtfully.  "Where have I heard that name before...?"

      "Tengoku is the name of the president of Digital Max," a familiar voice replied.  Ruki appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and approached the small group with a cold and emotionless expression.  "You know, that huge company down town that makes electronics and such?"

      Takato blinked, startled at Ruki's arrival as Jenrya nodded thoughtfully.  "I've heard of that company.  They're the ones that made the digimon computer game," he pointed out.

      "Hmmmm," Tsuyosa grinned, slightly.  He continued to look directly at Guilmon, unafraid of the snarling Digimon.

      "Oh, so that's how you know me," Sera commented.  "You own the company my parents work at."

      Tsuyosa didn't reply, simply looking at Guilmon.

      Takato started to become uncomfortable from Tsuyosa's scrutiny of Guilmon.  "Hey, why're you looking at Guilmon that way?" he asked.  "He won't attack you."

      "Hmmm...," Tsuyosa slowly lifted his head to look at Takato.  "He looks like a badly mutated Agumon."

      Takato scowled slightly, insulted.  "Hey!  You take that back!" he demanded.

      "Why?" Tsuyosa smiled, slyly.  "It's the truth."

      "He's got you there!" Impmon giggled.

      "Look who's talking," Terriermon quipped at Impmon.  "You look like a bunny rabbit who wanted to become a clown."

      "And you look like a rabbit mated with a dog!" Impmon spat back.  "Is that your face or did you slam in to a wall a couple HUNDRED times!?"  Sera couldn't help but giggle softly.

      "Guilmon is NOT a badly mutated Agumon," Takato said heatedly as he glared at Tsuyosa.

      "Oh?  A Patamon then?" Tsuyosa blinked, 'innocently'.  "He DOES have the ears... but they're so freakishly small."

      "He's not a mutated ANYTHING," Takato snapped.  "Guilmon's Guilmon!"

      "I see," Tsuyosa smiled.  "Then I guess that excuses the fact that it's pathetic, right?"

      "Guilmon is NOT pathetic!"

       "Of course he is.  You can barely control him.  He's nothing more than a rabid beast."

      Takato twitched slightly as he glared angrily at Tsuyosa.  "Guilmon is NOT a rabid beast!  He's my best friend!"

      "Oh?" Tsuyosa looked at the tense Guilmon once more.  "Certainly looks rabid to me."

      "Hey, come on now," Jenrya interjected, wanting to stop the fight before it got any worse.  "Don't fight."

      "Yeah, momentai," Terriermon added, supporting Jenrya.  He had decided to ignore Impmon now and pay more attention to the argument, as it seemed to get worse.

      "Hmmmm?" Tsuyosa glanced at Jenrya, and then turned to smile 'sweetly' at Takato.  "Oh?  Did I offend you?"

      Impmon watched, curiously, as he idly tapped his claws against Sera's arms.

      "Yes, you did," Takato muttered angrily.  "I'm not going to listen to you bad-mouth Guilmon!"

      "Hmmm, and what are you going to do about it?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "Challenge me to a fight?  Digimon to Digimon?"

      Takato went silent at that.  "... No," he muttered after a few moments.  "Besides, you don't even have a Digimon."

      "Hmmm?  Don't I?" Tsuyosa grinned.  "Then what, do you suppose, your GUILMON has been smelling this entire time?"

      Takato turned to look at Guilmon, who was still growling lowly and glaring at Tsuyosa.  "ChibiBa wants me to point out to your mutant Agumon that he doesn't smell that bad."

      "... ChibiBa?" Takato asked in confusion.  He then tensed and glared at Tsuyosa.  "Guilmon is NOT a mutant Agumon!"

      Ruki scowled slightly and looked at her D-Arc.  Her scowl deepened as the D-Arc simply blinked "data unknown" at her.  "..."

      "That's what you keep saying...," Tsuyosa squared his shoulders.  "But I suppose you're just in denial."

      "What kind of digimon is a 'ChibiBa?" Jenrya asked, hoping to cut off any further argument.

      "I've never heard of a Digimon without a 'mon' in their name," Terriermon mused.

      "You'll see," Tsuyosa grinned.  "IF Takato wants to prove me wrong."

      "... No," Takato said firmly.  "I won't make Guilmon fight for no reason."

      "Hmmm... so he's that bad, eh?" Tsuyosa chuckled, then tilted his head again.  He blinked, then burst out in to a huge grin.  "If you really have so little faith in GUILMON...  ChibiBa's offering to accept a handicap."

      Impmon giggled insanely and squirmed in Sera's grip.  Sera didn't share in Impmon's amusement as she watched the argument, uncertain of whether or not she should try to stop it.

      Takato shook with barely restrained anger as he glared at Tsuyosa.  "I have faith in Guilmon," he said through gritted teeth.  "But I won't make him fight just because you want him to!"

      "Still too afraid?" Tsuyosa appeared 'distressed'.  "Wow... is he really THAT pathetic?"  He tilted his head and smirked.  "I suppose it's too late to get a replacement, huh?"

      "I'm not afraid, and Guilmon's not pathetic!" Takato yelled, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.  "Take that back right now!"

      "Hmmm, I don't think I will!" Tsuyosa shrugged, looking 'innocent'.  "The truth hurts sometimes!"

      Takato growled, his expression becoming similar to Guilmon's for a moment, before he calmed himself slightly, unwilling to let his anger get the best of him.  "Take it back," he repeated harshly.

      "Stop it right now, you two!" Jenrya interjected.  "This fighting is pointless!"

      Tsuyosa glanced at Jenrya, then simply smiled at Takato without even dignifying him with a response.

      "Uh oh," Impmon snickered.

      "Who are you to judge Guilmon?!" Takato snapped, ignoring Jenrya.  "I bet this 'ChibiBrat' isn't even a real digimon!"  He pointed an accusing finger at Tsuyosa for emphasis.

      "ChibiBrat?" Tsuyosa blinked, then tapped his jaw.  "Oooh, how original... just like GUILMON, eh?"

      "I think this fight has gotten out of control," Terriermon muttered to his Tamer.

      "No kidding," Jenrya muttered in reply before addressing the two boys again.  "I mean it!  Stop fighting right now!  It's not getting us anywhere!"

      "Hmmm."

      "Hehehe, this is great!" Impmon crowed.

      "You'd better listen to him," Tsuyosa observed, ignoring Impmon.  "It's never a good idea to pick a fight you can't win... especially with your pathetic little GUIL-LESS-MON."

      Takato clenched his fists so tightly that they began to hurt as he glared at Tsuyosa.  "STOP INSULTING GUILMON!" he yelled, enraged.

      Guilmon crouched slightly and growled even louder due to Takato's yelling.

      Tsuyosa simply chuckled dryly, shaking his head.

      Impmon snickered, then blinked.  He glanced up at Sera.  She was no longer paying attention to him so much as she was the argument, which had caused her grip on him to go lax.

       Impmon's eyes lit up and he grinned, happily.  With a shout, he leapt free of Sera's grip and ran like a digimon possessed for the trees.

      "Wha-HEY!" Sera cried out as she quickly tried to snatch Impmon before he got too far.  Her actions were too late, however, as Impmon soon darted up a tree and disappeared in to the foliage.

      Sera frowned sharply as she put her hands on her hips and scanned the trees for Impmon.  "Dang it," she sighed in exasperation as she put her hands on her hips.

      Tsuyosa glanced at Guilmon and Takato, then chuckled.  "You BOTH look rabid now!"

      "Take them back!" Takato growled.  "TAKE BACK THOSE INSULTS ABOUT GUILMON!"

      "Stop it!  Stop fighting!" Jenrya cried futilely as neither were listening to him.

      "No."

      "YOU TAKE THEM BACK RIGHT NOW OR I'LL...," Takato warned.

      "H-hey!  Momentai, you guys!" Terriermon interjected, but, like his Tamer, was also ignored.

      "You'll WHAT?" Tsuyosa purred.  Ruki glanced between the two, then back at her D-Arc.  She scowled as the device still had no data to display on "ChibiBa".

      "I'll..."

      "... Stand there and stammer, right?" Tsuyosa tilted his head as he grabbed his backpack straps, calmly.  "I'm so scared."

      Takato shook with rage as he glared murderously at Tsuyosa, fists clenched so tightly that his nails were cutting into his palms.

      Tsuyosa snickered quietly, and leaned back.  "Hmm... actually, it seems a replacement would be a bad idea.  You're MADE for each other," he winked.  "You're BOTH pathetic."

      Something snapped inside Takato.

      With a cry of rage Takato lunged forward at Tsuyosa, his fist extended and aimed right at the antagonizing boy's face.  Tsuyosa's eyes snapped open with alarm as his expression shifted from calm to surprise.  "TAKE IT BACK!!!" Takato roared as he swiped at Tsuyosa with his fist.  Tsuyosa's expression shifted to pure shock as he stared at Takato.

      However, Takato wasn't able to finish the swing before a loud roar pierced the air.  Within mere seconds, the backpack flew open and a black shape lunged forward and slammed in to Takato's stomach.  Takato was stopped dead in his tracks as he was hit, the air leaving his lungs with an "oof" of pain.

      Ruki tensed and stared, her normally stern expression broken with shock.

      "TAKATO!" Jenrya cried as he rushed over to his friend's side.  Terriermon stared in shock as well, both at Takato's attack and at the attack on Takato.

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon roared in rage as he sprung into action.  He angrily charged headlong at the black shape that had attacked his Tamer.

      Sera's eyes widened as she stared, stunned, at what had just occurred.

      The black shape twisted about and hit Guilmon directly in the face before it flipped back and landed in front of a surprised and mildly shaken Tsuyosa.  The black shape, in fact, was a small miniature Black WarGreymon with piercing red eyes and a snarling expression.  Guilmon yelped, pained, as he fell backwards from the attack.

      "... ...," Ruki stared as Renamon landed beside her, both looking mildly confused.  "... WHAT... is THAT?"

      "A... Black WarGreymon?" Sera asked, confused.  "... But it's so small."

      Jenrya kneeled down beside Takato, who was on his hands and knees on the ground, gasping for air and coughing.  Terriermon frowned at the small black digimon before he hopped of Jenrya's shoulder and went over to Guilmon to check to see how badly hurt he was.

      "ChibiBa...?" Tsuyosa faltered.

      "Don't... EVER... attack Tsu again," the tiny Black WarGreymon growled, his voice surprisingly deep.  "Or I'll do a lot worse than kick you."

      Takato couldn't respond, as he was too busy trying to regain air in his lungs amidst his coughing.

      Jenrya looked back and forth between Takato, Tsuyosa, and the small Black WarGreymon, unable to speak.

      Tsuyosa seemed slightly uncertain for a moment, then shivered and crossed his arms.

      "Hey, buddy, you okay?" Terriermon asked Guilmon.

      Guilmon lay on his back in a daze, his head wobbling from side to side slightly.  "... Can I have some more bread please, Takatomon...?" he mumbled incoherently.

      "Lucky thing he hit you on your head.  It's the hardest part of you," Terriermon muttered, unable to resist making a joking comment despite the seriousness of the situation.

       "Let's go, Tsu," ChibiBa grunted, suddenly.  "We've wasted enough time on this moron."  Tsuyosa nodded slowly, almost numbly, as he started to back away.

      "... Coward."

      Tsuyosa paused and blinked, then slowly glanced over his shoulder.

      "..."

      Takato shakily started to stand with some difficulty.  "... You're the one who's... pathetic...," Takato coughed, his voice rasping as he spoke.  "... You can't even... fight your own battles...  You just make... your digimon... fight them for you..."

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened, then narrowed dangerously.  He slowly turned to face Takato, fists clenching.

      "You don't know anything," Tsuyosa growled.  "ChibiBa protects me.  I don't ask him to, he just does it.  He's not a slobbering, rabid animal like yours.  He thinks for himself and I DON'T need to lock him up in a shrine!"

      "... At least I don't make Guilmon my battles fight for me," Takato hissed as he ignored the insults, his voice steadily becoming stronger.  "... I don't use him like a weapon."

      "Takato, that's enough," Jenrya said, worry filling his voice.

      "... I don't use ChibiBa as a weapon," Tsuyosa replied, sharply.  "I don't make him fight for me."

      "... You wanted him to fight Guilmon when neither of them had anything to do with this," Takato snarled.  "Digimon aren't like guns you can play with!"

      "Bah!" ChibiBa snorted.  "Don't try and pretend like you know anything about me!  If it involves Tsu, it involves me!  PERIOD!"

      "... ChibiBa..."

      "... Can't even think of a good retort for yourself?" Takato asked as his eyes burned into Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa glowered back at Takato, his fists clenching.

      "Why should I be the only one to respond when you're insulting ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa growled.  "He's my friend.  Maybe you don't know what that means... but friends stick up for each other.  I thought you would understand that, given your company... but obviously you're too stupid for that."

      "You're the one who's pathetic," Takato repeated, ignoring the insults Tsuyosa said towards him.  "I know what friendship, but obviously you don't if you go around picking fights with people and expect him to bail you out of trouble.  You probably make your digimon do everything for you.  Fight, speak, and he probably even dresses you too."

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as his body flinched visibly.  Several emotions ran through, clearly visible in his eyes: shock, pain, and then uncontrollable rage.

      "Takato, stop this right now!" Jenrya snapped.

      Tsuyosa's eyes narrowed dangerously as they burned with a hatred so intense that even ChibiBa flinched.

      Takato met Tsuyosa's gaze without wavering.  "The truth hurts, doesn't it," he said flatly.

      "... I don't need ChibiBa to defend me...," Tsuyosa hissed.  "I can hurt you just as much as he can... moreso.  I can make you hurt so much it'll never stop."

      "ENOUGH!" Jenrya yelled, standing between the two arguing boys.  "This has gone on WAY too far!  There's no reason for this senseless fighting!"

      Takato said nothing; he merely glared at Tsuyosa.

      "What do you think, Takato...," Tsuyosa's voice was deathly quiet.  "What do you think would happen if the park security was informed of vandalism at the shrine?  Supposing someone anonymously informed them that something happened to the shrine... prompting them to go check it out?"

      Takato felt his blood run cold at Tsuyosa's words.

      "You know...," Tsuyosa continued, his eyes narrowing even more.  "... The shrine you're always around?  The one where you hide Guilmon?  I've seen you there before... what do you suppose would happen if the park security came to check out the 'vandalism'... and found your nasty little digimon?"

      "... You can't...," Takato weakly whispered.

      ChibiBa fixed a glare at Takato, his expression stern.

      "... That's enough." Ruki grunted.  Renamon crossed her arms and glowered, slightly, as she stood behind Ruki without interfering.

      "Can't I...?" Tsuyosa growled, eyes burning with rage.  "CAN'T I?"

      "Can he, Jen?" Terriermon asked his Tamer in a soft whisper.

      "... I'm afraid he can," Jenrya responded just as quietly.

      "... Why...?  ... Why are you trying to hurt each other...?" Sera asked in a quiet voice.  "...You're both Digi-Destined, aren't you...?  ... Why can't you be friends... and be happy you even have digimon...?"

      "... ... I can hurt you, Takato...," Tsuyosa hissed again, his voice echoing with hatred.  "Don't tempt me... don't think I won't...  I'm not a coward...  I'll hurt you."

      With a snarl, Tsuyosa turned on his heels and stormed for the bushes.  ChibiBa fixed Takato with a glare before making a rude gesture, then racing after Tsuyosa.

      Takato couldn't respond.  Anger burned within him, but that anger was smothered with a cold fear for Guilmon.

      No one spoke as Tsuyosa and ChibiBa both disappeared from sight, their footsteps echoing until they were nonexistent.


	2. Utter Betrayal

Authors' Notes: Same as always, we don't own Tamers... though we wish we did.  Tsuyosa and Sera are ours, though.  Don't touch!  We'll bite your ankles off if you do!  Enjoy and maybe leave a review! You know you want to. ;P

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 2: Utter Betrayal_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      A girl had turned and disappeared from his sight.

      When he had first arrived in the Real World, Impmon never fully realized what he had seen, as the shock of being in the Real World had taken up all his attention.  It was only some time after, when he thought about it, that he remembered.  He only knew then that he was in a bedroom with a D-Arc sitting on the desk, his Tamer's D-Arc obviously.

      There had been no one there to greet him when he first arrived.

      Impmon was young and innocent then.  He had marveled at sight of the Real World as he awaited his Tamer's eventual arrival...  But his Tamer never came.

      Impmon had timidly searched for his Tamer, and found far more than he bargained for...

**_*~*_**

      "IMPMOOON!"

      Impmon gasped sharply, then glanced around.  Featureless black surrounded him, almost like absolute darkness, yet he could still see as clearly as if it were daylight.

      From out of the darkness stepped Ai.  She glared, angrily, at Impmon as she puffed up her cheeks in irritation.

      "IMPMON!" she repeated, firmly.

      Impmon gasped, eyes widening at the sight of one of his Tamers giving him such an angry look.  "A-Ai?" he stammered, wondering why she was upset with him.

      "IMPMON!"

      Impmon turned to the opposite side of him, seeing Makoto standing there looking just as angry as Ai.

      "M-Mako-chan?"

      A cold fear welled up inside Impmon's stomach as he looked back and forth between his Tamers.  They were looking at him in the way they used to whenever they were going to put him in the middle of their arguments.

      "Impmon!" Ai repeated, then glared viciously at her brother before returning her gaze to Impmon.  "MAKO-CHAN-!"

      "IMPMON!" Makoto repeated before glaring at his sister in return.  He turned his gaze back to Impmon.  "AI NEEDS TO BE PUNISHED!"

      "No, MAKO-CHAN does!" Ai retorted, firmly.

      "N-no...," Impmon whimpered as he started to shake.

      "Ai's a big brat!  Use a fireball on her!" Makoto ordered.

      "I AM NOT!  YOU ARE!" Ai retorted, hotly.  "HIT HIM, IMPMON!"

      "N-no!" Impmon repeated, louder this time.  He looked desperately between his two Tamers.  "You promised you wouldn't do this to me anymore!"

      "IMPMON!" Ai screamed, stomping her foot angrily.

      "IMPMON!" Makoto yelled, trying to be even louder than his sister.  "PUNISH HER!"

      "NO!  HIM!" Ai cried, clenching her fists.  Suddenly, she leapt forward and grabbed Impmon's wrist.  "PUNISH HIM!"

      "NO!  PUNISH AI!" Makoto yelled as he grabbed onto Impmon's other wrist.

      "S-STOP IT!" Impmon yelled as he tried desperately to get away.  "I... I can't take you doing this to me anymore!"

      "IMPMON!" Ai shrieked as she tugged violently on Impmon's arm.

      "IMPMON!" Makoto screamed as he tugged just as violently on Impmon's opposite arm.

      "N-NO!" Impmon cried, struggling to get away.  "STOP IT!  PLEASE!  IT HURTS!"

      Neither child listened as they tugged, grunting angrily.

      Tears stung in Impmon's eyes as his arms felt as if they were ready to tear free from their sockets.  "O-OW!  IT HURTS!!!"

      "IMPMON!" Ai screeched as she tugged with all her might, oblivious to how close she was to ripping Impmon's arm out of its socket.

      "IMPMON!" Makoto screamed into Impmon's ear as he tugged just as harshly.

      "IT HURTS!!!" Impmon screamed, throwing his head back.  A hideous pain surged through him, prompting an agonized scream through his throat.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon sat up with a start, the scream dying to a choked gasp.  He panted heavily, his green eyes wide, and his body slick with a cold sweat.  After a few moments, he realized that it had been nothing more than a dream, and that he was still in the park, alone.  He shivered and held himself, the memory of his arms being practically ripped off in the dream still vivid in his mind.

      "Just a dream...," he whispered, quietly.  "They promised.  They're not like that now!"

      Impmon shook his head and grunted, glowering.  "I'm sure they had a good reason for not going to the Digital World to find me!"  He massaged his temples.  "I'm going to go see them and find out!  I'm not afraid of the answer... because they changed!"

      Impmon paused, then gulped.

      "Am I?"

      Fumbling, Impmon stood up and growled deeply.  "No, I ain't!" he repeated, firmly.  "I'm going... right NOW!"

      "And... even if they did...," Impmon wavered, doubtfully.  "... It's not like I NEED Tamers...  I mean, Tamers are for sissies...  Ai and Mako-chan are just... just a place I can crash to get free food without stealing... right?"

      Impmon rubbed his arms, shivering, and shook his head.

      "But... but they changed so, whatever...  I just have to go and see them.  Then... then it's back to normal, right?"

      Impmon stared at the ground, quietly, before he stood up once more.

      "I'm not afraid.  Feh, what do I have to be afraid of!?" Impmon hissed.  "It's not like I NEED anyone!"

      His mind made up, Impmon whirled and took off running through the park.  He darted through the trees and people, his expression stern.

      As Impmon sprang from branch to branch, he tried to ignore the pit in his stomach as he neared his final destination.  "Bah...," he growled.  "Nothing to worry about... nothing at all..."

      Impmon scrambled on to a brick fence and ran down the length of it, quietly repeating his words in an almost calming mantra.  It helped to soothe him.  A little.

      All too soon, Impmon found himself on the rooftops overlooking Ai and Makato's backyard.  He gulped quietly, then took a deep breath and looked around.

      Impmon paled drastically as he felt his stomach clench.

      In the backyard were Makoto, Ai, and their puppy.

      The three were playing together, the twin children laughing, and the puppy barking in delight, as they ran around the yard.

      "Heeee!" Ai giggled happily as she ran from the puppy.  "C'mon, here I am!  Come get me!"  The puppy yipped happily, bounding after her as its tongue flapped.

      "No, come get me!" Makoto giggled, running in the opposite direction.

      "I called him first!" Ai retorted, hotly.

      "Well, he's been chasing you for longer!" Makoto yelled, pouting.  "It's my turn!"

      The puppy whimpered as it looked between the arguing children.  Impmon couldn't help but sympathize with the puppy, knowing full well what it was like to be in the middle of one of Ai and Makoto's arguments.

      Ai scowled angrily, then sighed and put her hands on her hips.

      "... Oh, fine!" she grunted.  "But then it's my turn again, okay?"

      Makoto smiled broadly.  "Okay!" he cheered.

      Impmon was flabbergasted.

      "Just like that...," he muttered in disbelief.  "They stopped arguing, just like that..."

      Ai giggled, her scowl gone, and chased after the puppy and Makoto without so much as a complaint.

      Impmon simply stared, unable to comprehend what had happened.

      "They never... acted that way... to me...," Impmon whispered.

      Impmon felt sick; his entire body tensed as he resisted the urge to throw up.  Was this the reason Ai and Makoto hadn't come to find him?

      The chase was put to a premature end as Ai and Makoto's mother came out from the house, carrying a cardboard box full of toys in her arms.

      Impmon turned to stare at the box, quietly shaking.

      Resting in the box, on top of some tattered books, was the unmistakable shape of Impmon's purple D-Arc.  Impmon stared, speechless, as it rattled helplessly with each movement the mother made.

      "Last chance to change your minds about getting rid of anything in here," Ai and Makoto's mother said to the twins as she held the box down so they could see the contents easily.

      Impmon stared, mentally willing them to notice the D-Arc and cry out in surprise.  He wanted them to protest that the valuable D-Arc, his D-Arc, would be in the box going to the Salvation Army.  He wanted them to insist that it was still wanted and only there by mistake.

      Ai and Makoto let out a collective groan at their playtime being interrupted, before they peered into the box.  They didn't seem to notice the D-Arc, despite the fact it was in plain sight before them.

      Impmon crouched, staring almost pleadingly, as his claws curled and uncurled.

      Just as it seemed as if they started to shake their heads, Ai stopped and her eyes widened on something in the box.  "Oh!" she gasped.  "We can't get rid of this!"

      Makoto saw the same thing his sister did, and nodded vigorously.  "Yeah!" he said in agreement.

      Impmon felt himself sigh with relief, realizing he had been holding his breath.

      Together, Ai and Makoto reached into the box...

      ...And pulled out a teddy bear.

      Impmon didn't know whether to scream at them, cry, or run and jump off a bridge.

      "We can't get rid of Kero-chan!" Ai cried out.

      "Yeah, we love him!" Makoto agreed as he gave the bear a squeeze.

      Impmon collapsed in to a sitting position, staring numbly.  He couldn't move; he just didn't have the desire to do anything.

      "Are you sure?" their mother asked.  The twins nodded vigorously as they held onto the bear possessively.  "Okay.  Is there anything else you want to keep?"

      They shook their heads.  "Nope," Makoto said.

      "Just Kero-chan," Ai added.

      "..."

      Without a word, Impmon slowly stood up.  He turned on his heels, slowly, and proceeded to walk away as he stared off at nothing with a broken gaze.

      "... I didn't need them, anyway," he whispered.

      As Impmon walked away, he failed to notice the arrival of another human.  The girl from the park skated up, and then stopped by the gate before heading in to the yard.  However, Impmon was long gone by then.

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed as he shifted his backpack slightly on his shoulder.  School seemed to have dragged on and on to him all day.  He couldn't even escape the drudgery by drawing doodles of Guilmon in his notebook; his mind had been far too preoccupied with thoughts of the day previous.  He felt his stomach clench with anger and dread at the memory.

      Tsuyosa Tengoku.  That was a name Takato knew he'd never forget.

      Takato growled deep in his throat as he quickened his pace, stalking down the sidewalks furiously.

      The other boy had been a Tamer, like Takato, and even seemed to be around the same age as him, yet Tsuyosa was completely different.  Takato couldn't see why Tsuyosa wanted to insult Guilmon so readily like he had.  Even though Guilmon had been growling at him, or rather at his digimon, Takato told him Guilmon wouldn't attack him.  How could one person be so vicious to someone they just met?  It didn't make any sense to Takato.

      "I want mine noooooooowww."

      "Can't you wait?  We're in public."

      "Awwww... Tsuuuuu... pleeeeeaaase?  Pretty please?  I'm huuungry...  The BACKPACK'S even looking appetizing!"

      Takato stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of the voices, eyes widening slightly with recognition.

      "Oh fine... just don't eat my backpack."

      "YEAAAH!  You're the greatest!"

      "..."  Takato stood where he stopped for a few moments, speechless, before he slowly approached the source of the voices.

      Around the corner, Tsuyosa walked calmly down the sidewalk away from the bakery Takato's parents owned.  He had a bag in his arms, a half eaten pastry in his mouth as he rummaged through the bag.  He held up a piece of bread shaped in the shape of Guilmon's head, the newest edition to the bakery's pastries, and held it over his head.  ChibiBa quickly reached out and grabbed the pastry, cackling.

      "YUM, YUM!" ChibiBa giggled.

      "You just ate, you pig!" Tsuyosa said, though his voice was loving.  "Keep it up and I won't be able to carry you."

      "... Oink!" ChibiBa smirked.

      Takato spied on the two from around the corner, doing a good job of keeping himself from being spotted by either of them.

      "Piggy," Tsuyosa snickered as he continued walking, munching on the pastry.

      "Bleeeh," ChibiBa growled, suddenly.

      "Hm?  What?"  Tsuyosa paused and blinked at him.

      "Why's the bread in the shape of Mutant Agumon's head!?" ChibiBa demanded.  "I'm so much cooler!  Why isn't there bread shaped like ME!?"

      Tsuyosa blinked and looked at the pastry, then snickered.  "But wouldn't it bother you to know people would be biting your head in half?" he asked.

      "... Here's what I think of that!" ChibiBa growled, then proceeded to bite a huge chunk out of the head.

      "... That's just vicious, ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa tried to scold, but ended up snickering helplessly.

      Takato shook slightly as his hands clenched into fists.  He grit his teeth, and tried to fight down the urge to give them both a piece of his mind.

      "But there's something they could do to make it more realistic!" ChibiBa observed, looking at the mutilated pastry.

      "Dare I ask?" Tsuyosa chuckled.

      "Add frosting up here!" ChibiBa pointed at the pastry's forehead.  "Frosting for a brain!  Just like the real thing!"

      Takato growled, giving into the urge, and came out from where he his around the corner, glaring at Tsuyosa and the partially exposed ChibiBa.  "HEY!" he yelled.  "Who do you think you are, insulting Guilmon like that!?"  Tsuyosa looked up, blinking, as ChibiBa glared at him.

      "Oh, it's you." Tsuyosa muttered, dryly.

      "Yes, it's me," Takato growled.

      "What do you want?" Tsuyosa inquired, calmly.  Meanwhile, ChibiBa was making a great, exaggerated show of eating the bread in the shape of Guilmon's head.

      "I want to know what your problem is with with Guilmon!" Takato snapped, alternating his glare between both the other Tamer and his partner.

      "Hmmmm," Tsuyosa tilted his head and made to keep walking.  "You're in my way."

      "Yum, Guilmon brain!" ChibiBa cackled.  He grabbed the bread in his mouth and shook it, like a dog shaking a toy.

      Takato twitched angrily and spread his arms apart, blocking Tsuyosa's path.  "I want an answer, Tengoku," he growled.

      "ChibiBa," Tsuyosa glanced back.  "Is there a problem with Guilmon?"

      "No, he's quite tasty," ChibiBa replied.

      "Well, then."  Tsuyosa shrugged, as if that answered that.

      "... Don't give me that!" Takato snapped.  "You know what I mean!"

      "... Was there a recall or something?" Tsuyosa asked, 'innocently'.

      "Constipation?" ChibiBa added.

      "..."  Takato growled, his eyes narrowing into an even more intense glare than before.  "Why do you two keep insulting Guilmon and me?" he asked through gritted teeth, straining to keep in control of his anger.  "What did we ever do to you?!"

      Tsuyosa fixed Takato with a piercing gaze, his jaw clenching.  "Are you going to move or not?" he asked.

      "Not until you answer me," Takato growled.

      "I don't have to answer you," Tsuyosa replied, sharply.

      "You don't have to insult Guilmon either," Takato pointed out.  "I deserve an answer!"

      Tsuyosa glared at Takato, ChibiBa finishing off the last of the bread.  "And if I refuse?"

      "Think carefully how you respond," ChibiBa growled, suddenly very serious.  Tsuyosa glanced back at him but said nothing.

      "..."  Takato went silent as he tried to come up with a good answer that wouldn't result in another fight.  There would be no way for him to stop ChibiBa from attacking him and beating him to a pulp if he did.

      "Just move," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "..."  Takato reluctantly lowered his arms and looked down, his bangs casting a shadow over his eyes.  "... What's the point in even trying to talk to you civilly... if you're going to hide behind your digimon?" he asked more to himself than Tsuyosa.

      "... I don't hide behind ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa snarled.

      Takato looked up at Tsuyosa levelly.  "What do you call him threatening me because I want a simple answer, then?" he asked.

      "..."

      "You attacked Tsu yesterday." ChibiBa pointed out.

      "... You can't even speak for yourself," Takato accused, calmly.

      "... Yes, I can...," Tsuyosa glared.  ChibiBa made to open his mouth, then snapped it shut and looked at Tsuyosa, concerned.

      "Then answer me," Takato said insistently.

      "You don't need to know what my reasons are!" Tsuyosa replied, angrily.  "Just that I have them!"

      "Whether I need to know or not is not the issue here," Takato snapped.  "I deserve to know why you hate Guilmon and me!"

      Tsuyosa glowered at Takato darkly, then made to walk around him without so much as a retort.

      "Coward," Takato said, quietly, as Tsuyosa began to walk past him.

      Tsuyosa paused, then glowered.  "I'm not a coward.  You just wouldn't be able to understand."

      "Maybe you're just saying that because you don't want to admit it."

      "I'm not a coward!" Tsuyosa snarled, hotly.

      Takato gazed at Tsuyosa, his expression clearly showing that he didn't believe it.  "Then tell me," he said.

      Tsuyosa turned to glare at Takato, eyes starting to smolder with anger.  "You smug..."

      "Tsu."

      Tsuyosa paused, though he glared at Takato.

      "Tsu, we have to go.  It's important," ChibiBa said, his voice tense and his expression serious.

      "..."

      "... So, running away?" Takato accused.

      "... No.  I don't run away!  I am not a coward!" Tsuyosa snarled, eyes narrowing.

      "It's important, Tsu.  You're late," ChibiBa glared at Takato.

      "... For what?" Tsuyosa grunted.

      "No, YOU'RE late," ChibiBa replied, as if that had some meaning.  Tsuyosa's eyes widened slightly, and then narrowed to hateful slits.

      "Oh."

      Takato's expression didn't waver as his eyes bored into Tsuyosa's.  "... I guess I can't stop you from running away so you can answer me," Takato said angrily.  "You'd sic your digimon on me if I tried."

      "Believe what you want!" Tsuyosa growled.  "Even if it's not true... doesn't matter to you, anyway!  But so long as ChibiBa and I know the truth, then I don't care what you think I am!"

      "What is the truth?!" Takato snapped.

      "It's none of your business!" Tsuyosa replied, with such bitterness and anger that even ChibiBa flinched.

      "..."  Takato twitched slightly, then looked away after a moments.  "... Just go away and leave me and Guilmon alone," he said quietly.

      "You don't understand anything... how could you?!" Tsuyosa snarled, his voice rising in volume.  "ChibiBa's a hundred times better than that freaky, mentally retarded, MUTANT AGUMON-!"

      Tsuyosa suddenly broke off coughing, painfully, as the bags under his eyes darkened in color.  ChibiBa squealed with concern and leaned forward as Tsuyosa covered his mouth with his hands, coughing violently.

      That was when a tiny drop of blood slipped through his fingers.

      The coughing startled Takato, who had started to get angry at Tsuyosa's insults.  He started and stared as he noticed the blood on Tsuyosa's hands.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened and he stared at Takato, his hands over his mouth as all color drained from his face.

      Takato stared back, surprised and confused.  "... What... what's wrong with you?" he asked.  Without realizing it, he started reaching out towards Tsuyosa, instinctively wanting to help him despite their dislike for one another.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato in sheer horror, then flinched as if he had been physically hit.   "NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME!" Tsuyosa shrieked, then whirled and broke out in to a run.

      "W-wait!" Takato called out as Tsuyosa ran.

      "Tsu-!" ChibiBa yelped as he clung to Tsuyosa's neck.

      Tsuyosa ignored both as he ran, disappearing around the corner.

      Takato stared at where Tsuyosa had been, unable to bring himself to chase after or to look away.  By his feet, a bag of half eaten bread rested in a jumbled mess where Tsuyosa had dropped it.

**_*~*_**

      "HEY!  Watch where you're going!"

      A loud car horn echoed the complaint, honking loudly.

      The source of their agitation, Sera, didn't really pay attention to the sounds of people in cars yelling and honking at her as she skated her way through traffic daringly.  People who watched the teenager skate through the street held their breath at times, as she'd come close to getting hit by cars repeatedly.

      Even though she appeared to be ignoring them, Sera would dodge any cars that got too close to her with skill that most professional skaters would envy.

      "Noisy," Sera muttered to herself before finally skating off the road and onto the sidewalk.  "I can't even hear myself think with all that racket."  She sighed in relief as she left the agitated motorists behind her.  "Much better."

      With her mind free of distractions, other than dodging other people walking about on the sidewalk, Sera was free to think about things that had been plaguing her mind.  "Digimon really do exist," she muttered, not for the first time, to herself.  "And so do Digi-Destined..."

      She looked upwards towards the sky, broodingly, and narrowly avoided running into a woman carrying an armload of packages.

      "But why...  Why were they fighting like that?" Sera wondered silently.  "I thought Digi-Destined were supposed to be friends, and fight a common enemy...  Not yell at each other and try to beat each other up..."

      That brought her thoughts to wander to the strange occurrences and 'monsters' that had appeared on the news a while back.  "Heh, probably should have guessed it was digimon," she muttered.

      Sera looked ahead of her without really seeing the people around her, as she was too deeply lost in her own thoughts.  Her thoughts then went to center specifically on a certain purple digimon she had literally ran into.

      "A real, live, Impmon...," she sighed dreamily.  "I never thought I'd be lucky enough to actually meet one.  I hope I can see him again sometime.  He's just so CUTE!"

      She then sighed again, this time with longing.  "I wish I could be a Digi-Destined too...  I'd LOVE to have an Impmon of my own for my partner..."

      Sera's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she dodged a child standing in the middle of the sidewalk, and ended up skating directly into a telephone pole.  She yelped in both pain and surprise as she hit, before falling backwards onto her rear.  She rubbed her nose, which had become red from the impact and then got back up onto her feet, irritated.  "They shouldn't put those things on sidewalks," she muttered irritably.

      Sera resumed skating along the sidewalks once she had regained her bearings, and then allowed herself to submerge herself in her thoughts once again.

      "With my luck, I'm probably too old to become a Digi-Destined," she muttered.  "Those kids in the show were all 12 and younger when they became one..."

      She instantly brightened as a thought came to her.  "Well!  Even if I don't become a Digi-Destined, that doesn't mean I can't still go see that Impmon!" she said aloud to no one in particular.  She smiled brightly at the idea.  "Maybe I could find whoever his partner is, and maybe, just maybe, we could become friends."

      Sera then giggled and stuck out her tongue.  "I sound so silly talking to myself like this," she thought as she lightly rapped her knuckles against her helmet.

      She continued to skate along in silence for a few minutes, letting her thoughts churn around in her head without end as she dodged pedestrians.

      "Still..."

      She glanced up at the sky again thoughtfully.

      "I wonder what it'd be like..."

      Sera was suddenly brought out of her musings as she spotted a familiar house up ahead.

      "... Oh joy...  I'm here already," she said sarcastically at the sight.  She stopped outside the gate and glanced about inside the yard before entering.

      "Hello, Sera," a kindly older woman greeted as she walked towards the teenaged girl, carrying a box full of old toys and other worn out items.  "You're just in time.  We're almost ready to go to the Salvation Army."

      "Hi, auntie," Sera said, forcing her smile slightly.  "Where're Ai and Makoto?"

      The older woman came to a stop in front of Sera, readjusting the weight of the box in her arms slightly.  "They're in the backyard playing with the puppy.  Thanks so much for coming to baby-sit at the last minute like this."

      "It's no problem, auntie," Sera replied automatically.  Inwardly she was cringing at the thought of babysitting her cousins again.  They tended to be twin terrors and delighted in harassing her whenever they could.  The only reason she would agree to baby-sit at all is because her parents would insist upon it and not allow her to ever get out of it.

      Sera paused as something in the box caught her eye.

      "Hey, what's my card reader doing in there?"


	3. The Cutest Show on Earth

Authors' Notes: Yup, you guessed it, we don't own Tamers, but that'll change when we put our master plan into action.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Err... maybe I shouldn't have said that aloud.  ANYWAY, Don't touch our new and original characters!  Keep away!  They belong to us and no one else!  Enjoy our fic and PLEASE review.  We'll love ya for it!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 3: The Cutest Show on Earth_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Cheerful, high-pitched music filled the air as laughter and giggles mingled with the everyday sounds of life.  Flags of pastel orange, green, and pink waved in the air, heralding the attention of those about them.  Amid the flags towered a massive, matching striped tent.  Long strands of pastel yellow rope stretched upwards, supporting the structure, as it stood out like an obnoxious chalk drawing.  Balloons decorated with faces sporting huge, cat-like grins occasionally floated upwards from the tent, drawing all the more attention to it.

      "Welcome, welcome!" a loud voice sang, happily.  An adorable panda waddled down the sidewalk in front of the tent, a big red scarf around its neck and fliers in either paw.

      All children that saw the panda would tug on their parents' arms and point it out to them eagerly.  The panda paused, then smiled sweetly and wiggled its ears at the children before continuing on its way.  The children all squealed with delight at the sight.

      "Come one and all to the Pandamonium Circus!" the panda sang, happily.  "The cutest show on Earth!"

      "MOMMY!  MOMMY!" a little girl squealed.  "It's so cute!  Can I go!?"

      "Of course, sweetie," the little girl's mother replied.  "I don't see how I can refuse such a cute panda."

      The panda wiggled its ears in response, smiling cutely.

      "Oh how cute!" the mother said with a smile as she took a flier from the panda.

      "Thank you, mommy!" the little girl squealed with delight.  "It's so CUTE!"

      The panda seemed to radiate cuteness as it wiggled its ears and smiled cutely, its big soft eyes oozing with sweetness.  It easily charmed most everyone that saw it waddling past.

      Boys, however, tended not to be as easily charmed by such cuteness.

      "Eh, what's the big deal?  It's just a panda."

      "Actually, it's a guy in a panda costume," Kenta corrected his companion, Hirokazu.

      The panda paused and turned to look at Kenta and Hirokazu, its ears twitching cutely.  With a bright grin, it waddled over and held out a flyer.  "Come to the Pandamonium Circus!" it quipped, cutely.

      Hirokazu didn't show any interested in the flyers or in the panda's display of cuteness.  Kenta, however, decided to be more polite and accepted the offered flyer.

      "We have free food!" The panda added, cheerfully.  "And a get-out-of-school-free pass!  Approved by the city council!"

      "No way!" Hirokazu said with disbelief.  "You've gotta be kidding me."

      "No, it's right here on the flier!" Kenta stared in surprise.  "It even has an official seal!"

      The panda simply smiled.

      "Wow, there really is the city council's seal of approval on it!" Kenta gasped as he examined the flyer closely.

      "You're joking, right?" Hirokazu asked his friend, stunned at the thought.

      "Won't you come?" the panda purred.

      "Nope, it's right here," Kenta said as he handed the flier over to Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu blinked at the flier repeatedly as he stared at it in shock.  Slowly a huge grin broke out on his face.  "Heck, yeah!" he said enthusiastically to the panda.  "I'll go there every day!"

      "Yeah, me too," Kenta added excitedly.

      "Wonderful!" the panda beamed, happily.

      "Let's go tell Takato and the others," Hirokazu said as he started running off for the park.  "Oh man, they're gonna freak out about this!"

      "Hey!  Wait for me!" Kenta yelled as he chased after his friend.

      The panda waved after then, smiling cutely, before it returned to passing out flyers.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon walked along the top of the telephone poles, slowly and without much interest in actually going anywhere.  He really didn't care where he went, so long as he was so busy that he didn't have time to think about anything.  He didn't pay much attention to anything surrounding him, which was why he hadn't noticed a certain fox digimon following him until she spoke.

      "Troubles?"

      Impmon yelped and whirled about, eyes wide.  He paused, then blinked repeatedly and scowled.  "W-wheh?  Naw.  Why would I have troubles?" he scoffed at the very idea.

      Renamon stared back at Impmon, her expression, as always, giving away nothing.  "I don't know, why would you?" she asked, sounding genuinely curious.

      Impmon stared at her, then scowled and turned on his heel.  "Bah!  I don't, so that's all!" he snorted.

      "If that's so, then why are you acting like you used to when we first met?" Renamon asked.

      "..."  Impmon walked a little bit quicker.

      Renamon easily matched Impmon's pace as she followed him.  "Are you upset that your Tamers didn't come along with the others when they came to the Digital World to find us?"

      "... ..."  Impmon walked even more quickly.

      Renamon continued to match Impmon's pace, undaunted.  "Why don't you go to them and ask why they didn't come?"

      "... I know why they didn't come," Impmon replied, tartly.

      "Oh?" Renamon inquired, sensing the answer wouldn't be a pleasant one.

      "I'm not as cute as a puppy."  Impmon broke in to a run, obviously not wanting to discuss it further.

      Renamon hesitated for a moment before she darted after Impmon.

      Impmon ran as fast as he could, zipping aimlessly on the telephone wires.  He continued to run until he felt his legs buckle and numb, then proceeded to collapse in to a sitting position on one of the wooden wire supports.  His running seemed to be for naught, however, as Renamon came to a halt a few feet away from him.

      "What did you mean by that?" she asked after Impmon had caught his breath.

      "... Nuthin'," Impmon responded hotly as he kicked his feet.

      "Did you go to see your Tamers already?" Renamon ventured.

      "... Yes."

      "... I see..."  Renamon went silent for a few moments.  "... And they told you this?"

      "... Didn't have to."

      Renamon tilted her head slightly, but said nothing, waiting for Impmon to continue.

      "... They threw away my D-Arc," Impmon whispered.  "Not that I care."

      Renamon stared at Impmon, speechless with disbelief.  "... Couldn't it have been a mistake?" she offered after a minute or so of silence.

      "No," Impmon grunted.  "They saw it... and just didn't care."

      "..."  Renamon was taken back at that, and was once again rendered speechless.  After a minute or so she was able to speak again.  "... Do you know why they would do such a thing?" she asked quietly.

      "I DIDN'T DO A DAMN THING!" Impmon whirled and shrieked, shaking violently.  "WHAT'RE YOU ACCUSIN' ME OF!?"

      "I didn't accuse you of anything, Impmon," Renamon said calmly.  "I merely asked-"

      "I didn't do anything!" Impmon repeated, hotly.  "IT AIN'T MY FAULT!  I DIDN'T DO ANYTHIN'!  I WASN'T EVEN HERE!"  He whirled and took off running once more, this time fueled with his emotions.

      Renamon stared after Impmon and debated the wisdom of chasing after him.  She sighed and shook her head as she realized that nothing she said would help him right now.

      Impmon had to work through this falling out with his Tamers on his own.

**_*~*_**

      "A circus?  With a real get-out-of-school-free pass?"

      "That's right, chumley," Hirokazu said with a smirk.

      "Well... it does LOOK like the official council seal," Takato admitted as he examined the flyer Hirokazu and Kenta showed him.

      "We checked it out on the way over here," Kenta added.  "It IS real.  I don't know how they did it, but all the schools in the district are letting kids take excused days off to see this circus."

      "Wow...  That's so cool," Juri said in awe.  She moved her puppet to make it 'speak'.  "Rowf!  It's an unlimited pass?  Yip!"

      "Yup," Kenta said as he nodded excitedly.

      Takato scratched the back of his head uneasily.  "This seems too good to be true," he commented.

      "You know, I heard that if something's too good to be true, it probably is," Juri commented thoughtfully as she tapped her chin with her puppet.

      "Bah!" Hirokazu snorted.  "It's a chance at free food AND getting out of school!  This is a chance of a lifetime!"

      "Yeah, and it's completely official!  We checked!" Kenta added.

      "And if the county supports it...," Hirokazu ventured.  "Then it's got to be okay!"

      "Yeah!"

      "You've got a point there," Takato admitted thoughtfully.

      "Hmm...  Just how much does it cost to go there anyway?" Juri asked, somewhat suspicious.

      "That's the best part," Kenta said excitedly.  "It's FREE!"

      "Free?" Juri blinked.  She looked at her puppet, which shook its head.  "Sounds fishy to me, arf, arf!"

      "It sounds fishy to me too," Takato agreed.  "How would they make any money for all the free food?"

      "It's a public service!" Hirokazu replied, beaming.  "That's why they have approval, I guess."

      "Oh, that makes sense, I guess," Takato said, blinking.

      "So ya coming?" Hirokazu smirked, slyly.

      "Well, yeah!  It sounds like fun."

      Takato paused as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  He turned to see what it was, and he felt his stomach clench.

      Glaring at him from across the playground was Tsuyosa.  He stood there, eyes narrowed dangerously, as ChibiBa peeked over his shoulder from the backpack.

      Takato felt his teeth grit together as he watched the other boy watch him from across the playground.  "What does he want now?" he thought, agitated.

      Tsuyosa glared at him, then snorted and flashed Takato a vicious smirk before he made to leave.  ChibiBa pulled down his eyelid and razzed from Tsuyosa's backpack, rolling his eyes.

      Takato glanced at his friends, who didn't notice his attention being diverted, as they were too busy discussing the circus.  "... Excuse me, guys," he said, interrupting their conversation.  "I've got to go do something real quick."

      "Oh, okay!" Juri smiled, and then held up the puppet.  "Yip yap!"

      "'kay," Kenta said.  "Hmm...  I wonder if I can sneak Marine Angemon in...," he muttered to himself.

      Takato forced a return smile to Juri before he walked off quickly after Tsuyosa, intent upon catching him.  Tsuyosa was easy to catch up with, as he wasn't walking particularly fast.  ChibiBa peeked out of the backpack, then snorted and curled up inside.

      "Want something?" Takato asked once he had caught up to the pair, trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

      "Hmm."

      Takato twitched slightly at the non-verbal reply.  "Why were you watching us?" he pressed.

      "Hmmmm."

      Takato twitched again.  "... Are you going to answer me?!" he snapped.

      "Hmm?"

      Takato clenched his fists as he suppressed another twitch.  "Are you just going to keep going 'hmm' at me all day?!"

      "Hmm, hmm, hmm."

      "..."  Takato twitched and tried not to scream in frustration.  "Would you actually TALK to me for once?!"

      "Hmmmmmmmm...," Tsuyosa seemed to be considering.

      Takato tried to keep calm, but couldn't help twitching again.

      "Why'd you run after me?"

      "... Because I wanted to know why you were watching us," Takato answered, more than a little relieved that Tsuyosa had stopped 'hmm'ing at him.

      "... I wasn't watching you."  Tsuyosa continued along the sidewalk, as if he weren't even talking to Takato.

      "... Don't give me that.  I saw you glaring at me."  Takato walked a little quicker so that he was walking alongside Tsuyosa.

      "Glaring and watching are hardly the same," Tsuyosa pointed out.

      "... Okay, why were you GLARING at me then?"

      "Hmm."

      "... ...  Would you stop that?!" Takato twitched.

      Tsuyosa chuckled, quietly.

      "Just answer me."

      "It's a silly question," Tsuyosa replied.

      "Oh?"

      "Yes."

      "... Are you going to tell me, or are you going to make me guess?"

      "You're going to guess anyway.  Humor me," Tsuyosa retorted.

      "Fine," Takato muttered.  "I think you were glaring at me because of what happened yesterday."

      "Oh?  What happened yesterday?"

      "... You KNOW what happened yesterday, Tengoku."

      "Do I?" Tsuyosa seemed calm, but his cheek twitched, however slightly.

      "Yes, you know EXACTLY what happened."

      "I think I forgot.  Remind me," Tsuyosa said.

      "... I don't want to play games, Tengoku," Takato growled.

      "I honestly don't remember."

      "... You don't remember arguing with me, and then you coughing up blood?" Takato muttered, agitated, as he had to play along with Tsuyosa.

      "Oh, that."  Tsuyosa refused to look at Takato.  "What about it?"

      "... What happened to you?  Why did you cough up blood?"

      Tsuyosa paused, then turned to look at Takato with a vicious smile on his face.  "Food poisoning."

      "..."  Takato's fists clenched as he glared at Tsuyosa.  "That's a lie!" he snapped.

      "Hmmm."  Tsuyosa's smile widened as he turned and resumed walking.  "Is it?"

      "My family's NEVER had a case of food poisoning at our bakery, EVER!" Takato growled as he kept up with Tsuyosa, glaring at him.

      "First time for everything."

      "Must've been that GUILMON bread!" ChibiBa piped in, cutely.  "I felt all queasy after eating it!"

      Takato twitched and glared at ChibiBa.  "You keep out of this!"  He then looked at Tsuyosa.  "... Or can't you talk with me by yourself?" he barbed.

      "Sulky, isn't he?" ChibiBa snickered as he snuggled back in the backpack, zipping it up.

      Takato glared at the backpack for a moment before returning his attention to Tsuyosa.  "... What REALLY happened yesterday, Tengoku?"

      "I ate bad bread and got food poisoning," Tsuyosa replied, smirking.

      "..."  Takato clenched and unclenched his fists slowly, trying to keep calm.  "... What is your problem?"

      "I still feel a bit ill," Tsuyosa sighed, mockingly.  "I guess the bad bread isn't out of my system yet!"

      "... Stop saying that," Takato snapped.

      "Hmmmm."

      Takato twitched.  "Would you actually tell the truth for once!?"

      "'The truth for once'," Tsuyosa smirked.  "There, I told you."

      "... ...That's not what I meant, and you know it," Takato growled.

      "I know," Tsuyosa agreed, merrily.

      "... So answer me already," Takato muttered.  "Why did you cough up blood yesterday?  The REAL reason."

      "... ..."  Tsuyosa went quiet.

      Takato watched Tsuyosa, waiting for him to answer.

      "... ...  I have to go." Tsuyosa muttered, quietly.

      "..."  Takato quickly walked in front of Tsuyosa, blocking his path.  "Tell me," he demanded.

      Tsuyosa stopped and glared up at him, his jaw clenched in defiance.

      "I'm not leaving you alone until you do," Takato said with determination.

      "It's none of your business," Tsuyosa snarled.  "AND none of your concern."

      "..."  Takato went silent at that as Tsuyosa had valid points there.  "... Then at least tell me why you hate Guilmon and me so much.  That IS my business AND concern."

      "No."  Tsuyosa made to walk around Takato.

      Takato extended his arms, preventing Tsuyosa from passing him.  Tsuyosa glared at Takato with the same defiant expression as he stopped.

      "... Your friends are waiting for you.  Move," Tsuyosa growled.

      Takato returned the glare with one of his own.  "I'm not moving until you answer me," he hissed.

      "Then I guess you're going to be there for a very long time," Tsuyosa growled back, eyes flashing.

      "Fine."

      Tsuyosa glared at Takato, his jaw still clenched angrily.  Takato glared back at Tsuyosa defiantly, arms still outstretched as he blocked the other boy's path.  Minutes passed as the two glared at each other; it seemed that no one would back down.

      At least, that was until Tsuyosa suddenly swung his leg and kicked Takato in the shin with all his might.

      Takato yowled, caught completely unawares by the kick, and held his hurt shin as he transferred all his weight onto his opposite foot.  Tsuyosa took that chance to dart by Takato, surprisingly quick.

      "HEY!" Takato yowled, glaring after Tsuyosa as he held his injured shin.  "COME BACK HERE!"

      "You've got to be kidding!" Tsuyosa yelled back, turning the corner quickly.

      Takato snarled angrily as he glared after Tsuyosa.  By the time his shin stopped hurting long enough for Takato to stand on it, Tsuyosa was already long gone.

      "... Tengoku...," Takato hissed.

      "... Geez, man."

      Takato blinked and whirled to face behind him.

      "You mean all he did was kick you and down you went?" Hirokazu stared at Takato in disbelief, standing behind him and tapping his foot.  "When did you become a pansy, man?!"

      "... I'm not in the mood, Hirokazu," Takato muttered irritably.

      "Dude, you should've ran after him!  Punched him or something!" Hirokazu continued, sighing wearily.  "I mean, that was just PATHETIC!"

      "What was that all about?" Juri asked, standing alongside Hirokazu with Kenta.

      "Yeah, why'd he kick you?" Kenta blinked.

      "... I couldn't have even if I wanted to!  His digimon would have attacked me," Takato answered defensively.

      "He has a digimon!?" Kenta stared.

      "Dude, you're scared of THAT?" Hirokazu wrinkled his nose, irritably.  "Do you want ME go to hit him?  I'm not afraid of any old Digimon.  I have Guardromon."

      "Another Tamer?" Juri gasped.  She made her puppet bark at Takato.  "Yip!  I thought we were all there were.  Yap!"

      "He looks kinda scrawny... maybe a little sickly," Hirokazu mused, tapping his chin.  "I could take him.  One good punch and he'd go right down."

      "... I wouldn't recommend that, Hirokazu...," Takato muttered.  "He has a MEGA level digimon, Black WarGreymon.  He attacked me before, and I don't want to repeat the experience."  He then looked at Juri.  "I don't know why, but for some reason he hates me and Guilmon."

      "... But it's not with him, right?" Hirokazu smirked.  "You can't just hide something like that.  Black WarGreymons are huge!"

      "It IS with him.  Somehow it's able to change its size, and is able to hide in his backpack," Takato explained.

      "Maybe Marine Angemon could take care of him?" Kenta offered.

      "... Dude, you're afraid of a chibi-fied Black WarGreymon?" Hirokazu stared.

      "... I'm not afraid," Takato snapped.

      "Sounds like it." Hirokazu sniffed, disdainfully.

      "Shouldn't he be weaker like that?" Kenta asked as he adjusted his glasses.  "Maybe you can evolve Guilmon and beat him up."

      "Hey, you're not seriously suggesting FIGHTING a fellow Tamer, are you?" Juri asked, aghast.

      "I don't want to fight him.  He's the one that keeps picking fights with ME," Takato explained defensively.

      "So fight back!" Hirokazu replied, eagerly.  "It's fair!"

      "You shouldn't be fighting each other at all!" Juri exclaimed as she shook her head violently.

      "My dad says the only way to deal with a bully is to beat UP a bully!" Hirokazu retorted.

      "But you'd just become a bully yourself!" Juri insisted.

      "No, it's self defense!"  Hirokazu crossed his arms.  "If you show them you're not a pansy, they won't come back!"

      "It doesn't matter!  If Takato fought him, he'd just become as bad as him!"

      Takato flinched slightly as he recalled his failed attempted at punching Tsuyosa the other day.

      "Aw, what do you know?" Hirokazu grumbled.  "He's just going to keep coming back!  You can't reason with kids like that."

      "Did you even try talking to him, Takato?" Juri asked as she looked at Takato.

      "... I KEEP trying, but he NEVER gives me a straight answer," Takato said defensively.

      "SEE?" Hirokazu piped up.  "He thinks he's too good to talk to Takato!  That's why you gotta deck him!"

      "Well, then you've got to keep on trying until he changes his mind," Juri said, then looked at Hirokazu in irritation.  "Punching him would be the WORST thing Takato could do, since that'd just make things worse and give that boy even more of a reason to hate him and Guilmon!"

      "... Hmph."  Hirokazu just snorted and stuck his hands in his pockets.

      Takato grimaced, as he now knew more than ever that attacking Tsuyosa when he first met him had been a mistake.

      "Maybe if you brought him some bread from your store he'd become civil enough to talk to you?" Kenta offered.

      "... He says our bread gives him food poisoning," Takato muttered bitterly.

      "Ouch," Kenta muttered.

      "Okay, that's it," Hirokazu growled.  "I'll beat him up myself!"

      "NO!" Juri yelled.  "You'll just make things worse!"

      "That was vicious of him!" Hirokazu protested.  "That was a huge diss!  He deserves it!"

      "I'm not saying he was right to say it, but going after him would only make things worse on Takato and Guilmon!" Juri insisted.

      "Not if I kick his scrawny butt," Hirokazu snorted, to himself.

      "If Takato doesn't resolve things peacefully between himself and that boy, then one of them might end up really hurt," Juri said softly.

      "Juri...," Takato muttered quietly.

      Hirokazu said nothing, looking at the ground.

      Juri looked at Takato.  "Takato, I don't want you fighting this boy," she said insistently.  "It'll only end in disaster if you do."

      "... But what can I do, then?" Takato asked.  "He won't listen to me no matter what I say or do, and he keeps following me everywhere."

      "Sounds like a stalker to me." Hirokazu grunted.

      "... What if this guy has some sick, twisted crush on Takato?" Kenta added.

The other three just stared at him oddly.  Kenta sweat-dropped.  "Right, dumb idea," he muttered.  "Just pretend I didn't say that."

      "Dude."  Hirokazu wrinkled his nose and leaned closer to Kenta.  "Looks like we might have to deal with this," he whispered.

      Kenta looked at Hirokazu and nodded slightly.  "But what about...," he whispered as he nodded his head towards Juri.

      "We just won't tell her," Hirokazu grinned, slyly.

      "Won't she find out anyway?" Kenta asked, blinking.

      "Not if we don't mention it," Hirokazu winked.

      "I guess so...," Kenta admitted.

      "Hey, it's for Takato."

      "Yeah."  Kenta nodded.  "I'm just worried Juri's going to kick our butts if she finds out."

      Hirokazu grabbed Kenta and squeezed his head in a headlock.  "You chickenin' out over a girl?!"

      Kenta yelped and flailed as he tried unsuccessfully to get out of the headlock.  "Ack!  Hey!  No, I'm just saying that she'd get really mad if she found out!"

      "So she won't find out!" Hirokazu hissed, twisting his fist in to the top of Kenta's head.

      Kenta yelped and yowled, trying his hardest to get away.  "Ack!  Okay!  Okay!"

      "What're you two doing?" Juri asked, noticing the two boys rough-housing.

      "Just talking." Hirokazu grinned.

      "Uh, yeah, right," Kenta gagged, still trying to get out of the headlock.

      Takato sweat-dropped as he looked at his friends, wondering what brought that on all of a sudden.

      Hirokazu gave Kenta another head rub, then let him go and beamed innocently.  "Just a man to man talk, that's all," he said, sweetly.

      Kenta rubbed his head and readjusted his glasses, which fell out of place.  "Right," he said in agreement.

      Juri looked at them, and then at her puppet.  "Boys are so silly sometimes, aren't they?" she asked the puppet.  "Yap, yap!  Right!"

      "Guess so," Hirokazu beamed even brighter.

      Takato had a bad feeling about it.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon sat on the rooftop overlooking the road, ears drooping.  "... Stupid Renamon...," he grunted.  "Who does she think she is, accusin' me like that..."  He wiped at his eyes and scowled angrily when he noticed moisture.  "... Her and that 'high and mighty' attitude of hers...  Like she's perfect..."

      "Raaaaaaaamen!  Get your ramen!  Red hot ramen!"

      Impmon blinked and glanced down as a man wearing a white apron pushed a large cart down the sidewalk, grinning.

      "Raaamen!" the man repeated, then paused and grinned a large grin.  "... And sake!  Sure to cure what ails you!"

      "... Cure what ails you?" Impmon blinked.

      Impmon tilted his head and watched as the man paused to wipe the sweat from his brow.  "What a hot day," he sighed.

      Impmon's expression darkened as his eyes narrowed on the cart.  "... ...  Cure what ails you, eh...," he hissed.  "Well, I'd better get me some, then!"

      Impmon waited until the man looked away, then leapt down and grabbed a handful of ramen and as many bottles of sake he could.  He leapt out of sight just as the man turned to stare, confused at the sound.

      Impmon scuttled down the alley, shoving the ramen in to his mouth as he juggled the sake.  Once he was safe from discovery, Impmon paused and looked at the bottles.

      "'Sake'...," he read, gulping down the hot ramen and ignoring his burning tongue.  "... Some sort of juice, right?"

      Impmon sat down and put the bottles next to him.  He grabbed one and twisted the cork top out of the long, bottled neck.  He took a sniff, then cringed slightly.  "SOUR juice?" he mused.  With a shrug, he put the nozzle in his mouth and took a big, gulping drink.


	4. Pandamonium

Authors' Notes: I think you know by now we don't own Tamers... yet.  But we will soon, for we have plaaaans.  Evil plans.  Yeeeeeees...  *Ahem*, anyway!  We DO own Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters we add in!  So don't touch!

Warning: To all Juri/Takato fans who are looking forward to seeing some romance, we're sorry to disappoint you, but they are not a couple in this.  Sorry, we just don't believe it's possible.  Sure, he admitted to a crush but she herself said before that she wasn't looking for that sort of thing.  Sorry again, but puppy love is never destiny.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 4: Pandamonium_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "I wanna get some cotton candy!"

      "Yeah!  And popcorn too!"

      "Right, right," Sera muttered with a nod as she walked along just behind Ai and Makoto.  She was no longer dressed in her skates and safety gear, and was instead wearing a pair of violet boots, so she could walk along with her young cousins without leaving them behind.  Not that she would have minded.  Two days in a row of babysitting didn't help improve her mood.

      "How about a BALLOOOOOON too?"

      "YEAH!  A BALLOON!  Any maybe a toy too if they have 'em?"

      "We'll see.  I do kinda have limited funds you know," Sera pointed out.

      "Yeah-!  ... Uh, who said that, anyway?" Ai blinked.

      "I didn't say it," Makoto said, blinking too.  "I thought you said it."

      Sera stopped, blinking as well, and looked towards the new voice.

      An odd, cubby cat-like creature wearing red gloves, boots, and a matching goofy hat smiled up at Ai and Makoto, holding hundreds of balloon strings that in turn held on to hundreds of bright, multicolored balloons.  The balloons, each bearing a cute grinning face, swayed gently in the wind.

      "Balloons are fun!" the creature grinned.

      The twins' eyes widened at the sight, and then they both squealed in delight.

      "Look!  Look, Sera!  A digimon!"

      "BALLOONS!  BALLOONS!"

      The creature paused, then smiled adorably and wiggled it's nose.

      "Would you like a balloon or two?  They're free!"

      "Can we, Sera?!"

      "PLEEEEAAAAASE?"

      The creature smiled adorably up at Sera, nose still wiggling.

      "Go right ahead," Sera smiled.

      "What colors would you like?" the creature beamed, happily.

      "I want purple!  Er...  No wait, RED!  Red's close to brown like Kero-chan and P-Chan!" Makoto squealed, referring to their teddy bear and puppy respectively.

      "How about red AND purple?" the creature smiled, using its tail to hand two balloon strings to Makoto.

      "YAY!" Makoto squealed and snatched the balloons eagerly.

      "I want...  I want purple, too!  And green!" Ai giggled.  "Just like Impmon!"

      "Of course!  Right away!" the creature beamed, handing her two balloons as well.

      Sera blinked and glanced between the little creature and Ai oddly.

      "YAY!" Ai squealed, dancing happily.  The creature giggled and danced with her, prancing around.

      "Dance, dance, daaance!" the creature sang.

      "THANK YOU!" Makoto cheered and danced along with his sister and the creature.

      "Any time!  Aaaany time!  Enjoy the circus!" the creature wiggled its nose again, then pranced off with the balloons to find more children.

      "This is great!" Ai giggled cutely, before she took off running for the circus tent.  "Come on, Mako-chan!  Let's go!  Let's go!"

      "Yeah!  Let's go!" Makoto cheered and took off after his sister.

      "That Opossomon... it seems almost TOO real...," Sera mused silently.  "I wonder..."  She glanced at the twins and then quickened her pace to keep up with them.

      "Wow, look at this place!" Hirokazu blinked as he walked up, hands in his pockets.  "It's huge!"

      "Yeah!  It looks bigger than a baseball stadium," Kenta said in awe as he looked around.

      "So many children!" Juri agreed.  Her puppet snapped its jaws.  "Arf, arf!  So happy!"

      "Yeah, this looks like it's going to be great!" Takato agreed with a smile, starting to feel better, despite the earlier run-in with Tsuyosa.

      Guilmon sniffed the air and then brightened, a huge smile lighting up his face.  "I smell lots and lots of yummy treats!" he squealed.

      "Affirmative!" Guardromon quipped, cheerfully.  "Too bad I don't have a mouth!"

      "Pi, pi?  Can we eat now?" Marine Angemon asked as he poked his head out of Kenta's pocket.

      "Stay down," Kenta whispered to Marine Angemon.  "We don't want anyone seeing you and figuring out you're a digimon!"

      Guilmon blinked and sniffed the air more thoroughly, as if sensing something else in the air.  Takato blinked as he noticed Guilmon's expression, and made to ask him what was wrong.

      "HI!"

      "Hah?" Juri blinked, then stared down and found herself face to face with the very same creature that had given Ai and Makoto balloons only minutes before.

      "Would the lovely lady like a balloon?" the creature purred.  "It's free!"

      "Oh, why thank you," Juri said with a demure blush.  "I'd love one!"

      "Does the lovely lady have a favorite color?" the creature wiggled its nose, adorably.  "She can have as many as she wants!"

      "Really?  Thank you," Juri smiled.  "I'll take an orange balloon please."

      The creature complied, giving her a large orange balloon.

      "Thank you very much," Juri said with a bright smile as she accepted the balloon.  She barked her puppet at the creature.  "Ruff!  Thank you!  Bow wow!"

      "Oh!" the creature blinked, and then tilted its head cutely.  "Does the doggy want a balloon too?"

      Takato glanced at Juri and looked away with an inward sigh.

      "Yip!  You bet!" 'the puppet' barked in a squeaky voice.  "A yellow one!"

      "Okay!" the creature smiled, handing the 'puppet' a yellow balloon.  "A pretty yellow balloon for the doggy!"

      Juri took a hold of the balloon's string with her puppet's mouth.  She then made the puppet act as if it were trying to speak with its mouth full.  "Mmph!  Tanksh!"

      Hirokazu glanced between Takato and Juri, then leaned over and dragged Takato away a bit.  Takato yelped as he was dragged along, and looked at Hirokazu questioningly.  "Hey man," Hirokazu said, slinging an arm over Takato's shoulder.  "Sure, she 'just wants to be friends'... but, hey, we're not old enough for that stuff anyway, right?  We should live it up before we get attached to a GIRL.  And besides!  There are plenty of other fish in the sea!"

      The creature giggled happily and danced in front of Juri.  "YAY!"

      "..."  Takato looked down dubiously.  "...I guess...," he muttered.

      Juri giggled at the dancing creature, delighted.

      Suddenly, the creature twirled and popped its face right in to Takato's own, their noses almost touching.  "Do YOOOUUU want a balloon?" it sang.

      Takato yelped and nearly fell over in surprise.  "Uh-ah!" he stammered.  "Well...  Uh, sure I guess."

      "What color would you liiiiike?" the creature wiggled its nose, happily.

      "Uh, red," Takato answered.

      "Red, red!" the creature hummed, handing Takato a red balloon.  Takato blinked at his balloon after accepting it, and glanced at the creature, wondering what kind of digimon the midget was masquerading as.

      The creature turned to Hirokazu and Kenta, purring.  "Balloons for the boys who're too young for girls?" it winked, cutely.

      "A-hah...," Hirokazu sweat-dropped, then shrugged.  "Sure, I guess!  Um... do you have... brown?"

      "Brown, brown?" the creature pondered.  "Such an unusual color!  But let me see..."  The creature held the balloons with its tail and made a great show of peering in his boots, then his gloves.  He tapped his chin and pondered.

      "Where oh where...," he muttered.  "OH!  I know!" he gasped, suddenly.  He took off his hat, wiggling his ears, and reached inside.  Then, he slowly pulled out a balloon string and out came a brown balloon.

      "Brown!" he cackled, holding the balloon for display.

      He twirled, taking the balloons in tow once more, and handed the brown balloon to Hirokazu.  "Here you go!  Just for you!"

      "Whoa." Hirokazu stared, accepting the balloon.

      "Great trick," Juri cheered, and clapped as best she could while keeping a firm grip on her balloons.

      "You wouldn't have a pearl colored balloon on you by any chance?" Kenta ventured, wanting his to match the color of his D-Arc too.

      "Pearl, pearl... another unusual... but don't worry!  I'm sure it's here somewhere!" he crooned.  He pondered, tilting his head left and right, then blinked.  "Oh!  What's that?" he cried.  He held the other balloons with his tail, then reached up and stuck his finger in Kenta's ear.  Then, slowly and with great exaggeration, he pulled a pearl colored balloon seemingly out of Kenta's ear.

      Kenta gasped and stared, amazed, at the creature.  "Wow!  That's great!" he cheered.

      "Here, for you!  Pearl colored balloon!" the creature beamed, happily, and handed Kenta his balloon.

      "Thanks," Kenta smiled as he accepted the balloon.

      "Hey, psst," Hirokazu nudged Kenta in the ribs, painfully.

      "Ow, watch it," Kenta yelped.  He rubbed his ribs as he looked at Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu simply pointed, expression stern.  Across the grounds, walking towards the back of the tent, was Tsuyosa.  A black balloon and a silver balloon floated behind him, tied to his backpack.

      "It's that guy," Kenta muttered, eyes widening.

      Hirokazu nodded sharply, then started to walk after Tsuyosa.  Kenta followed, feeling more than a little nervous.  Guardromon noticed Hirokazu walking off with Kenta and Marine Angemon, and quickly went after them.

      Hirokazu walked off, trying to appear casual as he made sure Takato and Juri didn't follow him or Kenta.

      Neither noticed them leaving as Guilmon had decided to see if the creature's balloons were edible, and was trying to jump up high enough to snatch one in his jaws.

      "Balloon not tasty, but here you go anyway!" the creature sang, tying a red balloon to Guilmon's tail.  "PRETTY!"

      "Thanks!" Guilmon chirped before he started chasing his tail, trying to get the balloon.  Takato sweat-dropped at the sight, while Juri giggled.

      Hirokazu grinned, then disappeared around the tent and looked around.  He spotted Tsuyosa, who had paused to adjust his backpack.  "HEY YOU." he growled.

      "Hmm?" Tsuyosa glanced over his shoulder, blinking.

      "We saw what you did to Takato." Hirokazu growled as he stalked towards Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa blinked slowly and turned to face the small group.

      "What about it?" Tsuyosa asked, calmly.

      "Why'd you go and kick him?" Kenta asked.  Marine Angemon poked his head out of Kenta's pocket and peered curiously at Tsuyosa.

      "He wouldn't let me by when I asked him to." Tsuyosa replied, calmly.

      "That's no reason to kick him," Hirokazu snapped, looking threateningly at Tsuyosa.

      "Why are you bothering me?" Tsuyosa looked at Hirokazu, poisonously.

      "Takato's our friend, and we're not gonna just stand around and let ya pick on him and Guilmon!" Hirokazu pointed at Tsuyosa for emphasis.

      "So what are you going to do?" Tsuyosa crossed his arms.  "Yell or cry?"

      "I'll tell you what I'm going to do," Hirokazu hissed as he stalked closer, clenching his fists.  "I'm going to give you a reason to never even LOOK at him again!"

      "You're threatening me?" Tsuyosa arched an eyebrow.

      "You'd better listen to him," Kenta warned.  "He's serious!"

      "I'm not frightened of you," Tsuyosa glared at Hirokazu.  "Imagine, Takato goading me about ChibiBa when he sends a bunch of thugs after me."

      "Hey!  We're not thugs!" Kenta said, insulted.  "And Takato doesn't even know we came over here."

      "I don't believe you," Tsuyosa glared.

      "It doesn't matter!  Lay off Takato or else!" Hirokazu snapped.

      "Or else WHAT?" Tsuyosa narrowed his eyes.

      "THIS!" Hirokazu lunged, swinging his fist and hitting Tsuyosa full in the face, causing him to fall backwards with a yelp.

      That's when hell broke lose.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon hiccupped, rubbing his nose sloppily, as he wobbled back and forth while walking down the sidewalk.  His cheeks were a bright red in color, his eyes dazed and disoriented, as he held quite a few half empty bottles of sake.

      "Wanna be da biggusht dweamer... dah, dah, dah how doesh it go?" Impmon gurgled.

      Impmon weaved in and out of traffic, barely dodging cars as he slipped back and forth between the road and the sidewalk.

      "Baaaaah...  Who caresh annnewaye."

      Impmon wobbled, then squeaked when he fell forward in to the street.  Just as he fell, a large black limo pulled in to view.  Upon sight of Impmon in the road, the limo slammed on its breaks and stopped inches away from the drunken digimon.

      Impmon hiccupped, one ear drooping drastically, as he peered at the limo, not comprehending what had nearly happened.  "Crazzzzy hyuman dwivers," he drawled.

      Click.

      Impmon twitched at the noise, and looked up to see a sharply dressed man.

      Yamaki peered down at Impmon, both curious and irritated at the digimon.  "You should be more careful, digimon," he commented a he flicked his lighter idly.  "You nearly got deleted just now."

      "... Daamnz, yer tall."

      "... Are you... drunk?" Yamaki asked, more than a little confused.

      "Ish HAPPY," Impmon beamed.  He paused, then grabbed one of the bottles and proceeded to take a big drink.

      "No, you're drunk," Yamaki pointed out.  "You just THINK you're happy."

      "... I fink derefore I AAAAAAM..."  A hiccup.  "... Dwunk!"

      "... Very much so, I see," Yamaki commented.

      "Yessssss," Impmon drawled, then fell backwards and kicked his feet idly.  "WEE!  I HAVE FEETSIES!"  Impmon broke out laughing, as if he had just been incredibly funny.

      "... Maybe I should give you a ride to your Tamers," Yamaki said as he reached out for Impmon, sweat-dropping.  "It's too dangerous for you to be wandering around in your condition."

      Impmon flailed his arms and 'growled', which sounded more like a sputter.  "DEY DON'T WANT ME SO I DUN WANT THEM!" he protested.

      "What?" Yamaki blinked.

      "Threw 'way muh D-Arc," Impmon snuffled, looking truly depressed.  He paused, took another big gulp of sake, and then beamed again.  "SO I'SH FINE!  Jest gunna... go... somewhere!"

      Impmon fumbled up, tottering dangerously, and fell forward on to the sidewalk.  "..."  Yamaki was uncertain whether Impmon was drunk and had no idea what he was saying, or if what he had said was the reason why he was so drunk.  "Here, let me..."

      "... Bleeaaaugh!"

      Yamaki cried out in revulsion, taking a couple steps from Impmon, but it didn't save his shoes from getting covered in vomit.

      Impmon paused, blinking repeatedly, then turned and darted down the sidewalk.

      Even when drunk, Impmon knew when it was a good idea to run.

      Impmon turned the corner, glancing back drunkenly, and squeaked as he slammed in to a nice warm body.  He fell backwards and landed on his butt, blinking.

      "Hey!" yelped Jenrya as he took a step back from Impmon after his legs were rammed into.  He barely managed to keep from falling over, thankfully.

      Impmon stared up at Jenrya, blinking.

      "Watch where you're going, clown-face," Terriermon said snappishly from Jenrya's shoulder.

      "Hey... ish a two headed-ed bunny wabbit man!"  Impmon cackled and fell backwards, kicking his legs.

      Jenrya and Terriermon blinked, both surprised and utterly confused at Impmon's strange behavior.  "Are you okay, Impmon?" Jenrya asked.

      Impmon's cackling eventually died down to an eventual giggle, broken by a hiccup or two.  "... No," he smiled.  "I'sh DRUNK!"

      "And HOW," Terriermon quipped.  "What'd you do?  Drink all the alcohol in a restaurant or something?"

      "YES!" Impmon cackled insanely, finding it hilarious.

      Terriermon blinked, not expecting Impmon to agree.  "... You know, you're even more like a clown when you're like this," he commented, purposely goading Impmon.  "Your voice sounds like you inhaled helium all afternoon before hitting yourself in the head repeatedly."

      Impmon paused, then looked at Terriermon.

      "You look like my puke."  Impmon looked very solemn, then grinned drunkenly.

      "... I think that alcohol has fizzled out Impmon's brain," Terriermon commented to Jenrya.

      "I think Impmon needs HELP instead of insults, Terriermon," Jenrya admonished.

      "Aww...  Can't I do a few more?" Terriermon whined.  "It's not like he'll remember it when he's sober."

      "Terriermon...," Jenrya began as he crossed his arms.

      "Alright, alright," Terriermon muttered, giving in.  "You can't blame me for wanting to have a little fun."

      "... Eeee," Impmon moaned, suddenly looked a little green.  "I feel ickie..."

      Jenrya kneeled down next to Impmon, and reached out to pick up the drunken digimon.  "Come on, I'll take you home," he said.

      "No gotz," Impmon grunted.

      Jenrya blinked at that.  "What do you mean?" he asked.

      "I thought you had a couple toddlers as Tamers," Terriermon pointed out.

      Impmon's expression shifted to utter despair, as if someone had just died.  "They threw 'way D-Arc...," he whispered.  "Threw me 'way..."

      Impmon slumped against Jenrya, shivering.  "Not good 'nuff...," he hiccupped.

      Jenrya shared a dubious look with Terriermon.  "... I'll take you to my home then," Jenrya said, making a mental note to ask Impmon about his Tamers once he was sober.

      "Hotay...," Impmon grunted.  Suddenly, his eyes bugged out.  "BLEAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

      Jenrya and Terriermon cried out as Impmon threw up on the two of them.  Jenrya held Impmon out at arm's length in a futile attempt to stop him from soiling them any further, his shirt now completely covered with vomit.

      "... Oh, GROSS!" Terriermon said in disgust as he looked down at himself.

      Impmon twitched, and then slumped in Jenrya's arms as his eyes rolled in to the back of his head.

      "... Come on, let's go home and get a bath," Jenrya sighed to Terriermon.

**_*~*_**

      A shriek pierced the jovial atmosphere of the circus grounds, silencing the sounds of children having fun.

      Juri blinked repeatedly, then turned to stare fearfully at Takato.  "Takato... th-that was Hirokazu!" she whispered.

      "Come on, we've got to help!" Takato cried as he bolted towards the source of the scream.  "Come on, Guilmon!"

      "Coming Takato!" Guilmon replied as he chased after his Tamer, the red balloon still tied to the end of his tail.  Juri followed after, her expression fearful.

      Many children scrambled away panicked, as the 'creatures' working at the circus tried to calm them.

      As Takato and Juri rounded the corner, Guilmon in tow, they came face to face with a scene of total chaos.

      Hirokazu curled up the ground, clutching his stomach as he quivered violently in pain.  Kenta was knelt by Hirokazu, his expression of pure horror and fear as Marine Angemon quivered in his shirt.  Guardromon sputtered and fell backwards with a cry as ChibiBa lunged at him, eyes glowing red and practically foaming at the mouth in anger.  In the far back, Tsuyosa was slowly fumbling to his feet while gingerly touching a large black eye.

      "-!  Hirokazu!  Guardromon!" Takato cried, running over towards his friends as fast as he could.

      ChibiBa snarled and kicked Guardromon in the face, sending him backwards with a clattering clunk.

      "Stop it!" Juri cried, aghast, as she ran towards her friends with Guilmon.

      Tsuyosa gingerly ran his finger along the trim of his black eye, and then looked up at Takato and Juri.

      ChibiBa jumped on to Guardromon's chest and growled down at him, teeth glittering.

      "Guilmon!  Help Guardromon!" Takato cried.

      "G-gyah...," Hirokazu choked.  "S-sucker punch..."

      ChibiBa's head snapped about and he glared at Guilmon, and then lunged at him with a snarl.

      "Right, Takatomon!" Guilmon said as he took a deep breath.  "FIREB-!"

      ChibiBa was upon Guilmon before he could finish his attack name, kicking upwards and knocking the red dinosaur digimon for a flip.

      Tsuyosa glanced at ChibiBa, and then looked at Takato.

      "GUILMON!" Takato cried.

      Guilmon shook is head after impacting onto the ground, trying to regain his bearings.  ChibiBa lunged with a snarl, landing on Guilmon's chest.  Guardromon took that moment to lumber up.  ChibiBa snapped about to glare at the mecha digimon, who paled and backed away.

      ChibiBa darted forward at Guardromon, who scrambled back and tried to keep far away from the chibi-fied Mega's claws and teeth.

      "R-run, Gu-G-Guardromon!" Hirokazu barked.

      Guardromon needed no further advise as he whirled and took off as fast as his gears could carry him.

      Takato whirled to glare at Tsuyosa.  "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" he cried.

      Tsuyosa blinked at Takato, then narrowed his eyes with a wince.  "No."

      Oddly enough, ChibiBa was no closer in catching Guardromon than Guardromon was at getting away.  Apparently, the mecha digimon was a good runner.

      Takato growled at Tsuyosa.  "Call him off or I'll MAKE you call him off!" Takato yelled as he lunged at Tsuyosa like an enraged beast.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened with shock as he realized that Takato was running at him.  He let out a startled squeak and turned on his heel, bolting away from Takato.  Takato gave chase after Tsuyosa, intent upon catching the other boy.  Tsuyosa, however, had no desire to be caught and ran across the circus grounds like he were being chased by a demon.

      And considering Takato's anger, he very well was.

      Tsuyosa darted down the sidewalk, gasping and not sure where to go but very interested in getting there if it meant Takato wouldn't catch him.  Takato matched Tsuyosa's frantic speed as he angrily chased the other Tamer.  "COME BACK HERE AND CALL HIM OFF!" Takato shouted.

      "GET AWAY!" Tsuyosa cried, frantically, as he ran and turned the corner.

      "I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH HURTING MY FRIENDS!" Takato roared, rounding the corner sharply.

      "THEY HURT ME FIRST!" Tsuyosa cried.

      Meanwhile, ChibiBa whirled about and kicked Guilmon in the face as the dinosaur digimon tried to attack him from behind.  ChibiBa leapt on to Guilmon's chest and sneered down at him, growling, before he paused and looked around.  "... Hey...," he blinked, eyes widening.  "... Where's Tsu!?"

      Tsuyosa gulped for air, his chest heaving, as he whirled another corner and frantically tried to lose Takato.  Takato wouldn't be deterred so easily.  He kept after Tsuyosa like a man possessed, filled with determination to catch Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa scrambled up a parked car, then leapt from the hood on to the top of a fence before he disappeared behind it and darted through the yard.  Takato doggedly kept after Tsuyosa, following his exact path in spite of the difficulty.  Tsuyosa quickly climbed the fence on the other side, extremely motivated to escape, and then leapt down.  He glanced back, squeaked, and took off running once more down the sidewalk.  Takato still kept after Tsuyosa with fierce determination.  He refused to let Tsuyosa get away from him.  Tsuyosa glanced back, eyes wide with fear, before he turned yet another corner and ran down the steep curved sidewalk towards the riverside.

      "GET BACK HERE!" Takato roared, slowly catching up to Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa gulped and darted along side the river, looking frantically for a way to ditch Takato.   Tsuyosa turned on his heel sharply and darted across the street in to one of the deserted side streets, looking particularly pale as he gasped for air almost desperately.

      Tsuyosa tried to dart through one of the alleys, but came up short with a gasp when he found it sealed off by a chain link fence.  Takato started to catch up to Tsuyosa, slowly coming within arm's reach.  With a cry, Takato lunged at Tsuyosa, and grabbed the other boy's leg as he attempted to climb the fence.

      Tsuyosa squeaked with alarm and tried to shake Takato off his leg.  "GET DOWN HERE!" Takato snarled as he yanked on Tsuyosa's leg.

      "NO WAY!" Tsuyosa yelped, holding on tightly and tugging himself upwards in an attempt to free himself and get over the fence.  Takato growled and tugged all the more fiercely on Tsuyosa's leg, intent upon dragging the other boy down off the fence.

      Tsuyosa winced, and then shook his leg violently as Takato tugged.  Takato slowly began to lose his grip, ultimately grabbing on to Tsuyosa's shoe.  Suddenly, Tsuyosa's shoe slipped off in to Takato's hands.

      Tsuyosa yelped in alarm as he fumbled, then quickly bolted upwards and climbed over the top of the fence.  He dropped down, and then hopped a bit as he realized his shoe was gone.  He looked at Takato, blinked, and then took off in a hopping run.

      Takato tossed the shoe angrily over the fence at Tsuyosa before quickly scrambling up over it himself.  Tsuyosa paused, darted back to grab his shoe, and then took off again while carrying it.

      "STOP, TENGOKU!" Takato shouted as he hopped off the fence.

      "YOU'RE... INSANE... IF YOU... THINK I'LL... STOP... BECAUSE YOU... TELL ME TO!" Tsuyosa cried, in between gasps.

      "IT'S LESS DANGEROUS THAN WHAT'LL HAPPEN TO YOU WHEN I CATCH YOU!" Takato shouted back at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa squeaked in response and ran even faster.

      Tsuyosa darted down the sidewalk, suddenly fumbling a bit with an almost disoriented motion.  He clutched at his chest and continued running, coughing lightly as his cheeks took a deep flush.  Takato didn't notice Tsuyosa fumble.  All he noticed was that he was steadily catching up to him.

      Tsuyosa noticed the fact as well as he suddenly whirled and darted through the broken gate of an abandoned house, trying to cut through the unkempt yard for the other side and hopefully escape.  His coughing grew more violent however, his hands shooting up to his mouth as he tottered dangerously.  To make matters worse, Takato was rapidly closing in on him.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes, wincing painfully as he tried to make himself run faster.  However, at that moment a particularly hideous cough shook his entire body.  Tsuyosa stumbled, his eyes widening in agony, as he could literally taste a coppery substance, before he fell to the ground in a trembling heap.

      Takato panted heavily as he came to a halt less than a meter away from the fallen Tsuyosa.  "I've... got you... now...," Takato panted as he glared down at his quarry.

      Tsuyosa quivered, eyes wide and hysterical, before he proceeded to spit up blood.

      Takato started, and stared wide-eyed at the sight of the blood.  "What?!" he gasped.

      Tsuyosa wrecked himself away and covered his mouth, rolling on his stomach and burying his face in the ground as he coughed so badly his entire body shook.

      The humane side of Takato voiced itself over the part of him that was filled with rage.  "Tengoku!" he gasped, rushing over to Tsuyosa's side.  "What's wrong with you!?"

      Tsuyosa tried to inch away from Takato despite his nerve wrecking coughs, mewling with fear and pain.

      "Don't move!" Takato commanded as he put his hands on Tsuyosa's shoulders, forcing him to stop moving.  "Lie still, you're going to make it worse if you move."

      Tsuyosa cringed, whimpering as he shut his eyes tightly.  "Don't... hit... me...," he wheezed.

      Takato stared at Tsuyosa, stunned momentarily, before he let go of the injured boy.  "I... I won't hit you...," Takato whispered, filled with guilt.

      Tsuyosa coughed and curled up in to a tight ball, shaking, as the coughing seemed to get worse and worse by the second.

      Takato stood quickly, the urgency of the situation overriding his guilt.  "S-stay here, and don't move!" he commanded.  "I'll go call an ambulance!"

      Tsuyosa shook his head violently and tried to scramble up, eyes squeezed shut.

      Takato quickly got back down onto his knees next to Tsuyosa and forced him to lie back down.  "Don't move!" Takato cried out in desperation.  "You'll make it worse!"

      Tsuyosa fidgeted, his bloody hands clawing at his backpack desperately as he gulped for air.

      "... Is there something in your backpack that can help?!" Takato asked, noticing Tsuyosa's actions.  Tsuyosa nodded weakly, trying to get his backpack off without much success.  Takato quickly tore off Tsuyosa's backpack and dumped the contents before him.

      A clatter issued as quite a few pill bottles spilled forth, the contents rattling at such rough treatment, along with some various other equipment such as books, a radio, and Tsuyosa's black and silver D-Arc.  Takato looked through the contents of the backpack, and centered on the pill bottles.  He would have taken the time to wonder why Tsuyosa was carrying so much medicine with him, but he was too panicked to care.

      Tsuyosa reached about and sorted through the pills, his body shaking so violently he had trouble remaining up right.  He wrapped his hands around a particular bottle and held it tight, cringing as another cough made him choke.  His fingers fumbled to open it up.  Takato took the bottle from Tsuyosa and quickly opened it before handing it back to him.

      Tsuyosa trembled, grabbing some pills and swallowing them with a grimace.  He coughed, though it sounded less ragged, as he tensed up and gasped for air.

      Takato helplessly watched Tsuyosa, uncertain if he should run to get an ambulance, or if he should remain and make sure Tsuyosa didn't get even worse.

      Moments ticked by as Tsuyosa's breathing grew more regular, his coughing all but disappearing.  Slowly, Tsuyosa opened his eyes and took a deep breath of air.

      "... Tengoku?" Takato asked quietly.

      Tsuyosa flinched visibly, then slowly looked at his hands.  He stared at them for a moment before wiping them off on the grass.

      "... Are you okay?" Takato whispered, grimacing at the sight of the blood.

      "... Yes..."  Tsuyosa's voice was weak and strained.

      "... What happened to you...?"

      "... Nothing."  Tsuyosa's voice gradually grew stronger as he made to pick up the pills and shove them in his backpack.

      "... How can you say 'nothing'?!" Takato snapped, and then winced, immediately regretting raising his voice.

      Tsuyosa flinched again, then grabbed the rest of the pills and shoved them in to his backpack.  "... Because nothing happened."

      "..."  Takato stared at Tsu putting the pills away in his backpack, and something clicked in his mind.  "... You're sick, aren't you...," he breathed.

      Tsuyosa tensed, and then clutched his backpack tightly to his chest.  "No...," he hissed.  "NO, I'm not sick!"

      "That's why you have all those pills... and why you got so bad off just now...," Takato continued, acting as if Tsuyosa said nothing.

      "NO!" Tsuyosa snapped.

      "Why do you have them then?" Takato asked.  "And why did you collapse and cough up blood if there's nothing wrong with you?"

      Tsuyosa went silent as he started to shake, his hands slowly returning the rest of his discarded items to his backpack.  He zipped the backpack up, violently, and then glared the grass.  "There's nothing wrong with me.  I'm a perfectly NORMAL CHILD!" he hissed.

      Takato stared at Tsuyosa in silence, comprehension slowly dawning on his features.

      "... Don't look at me like that!"  Tsuyosa glared at Takato, his eyes shimmering with barely contained horror and anger.  "Don't look at me like that!"

      Takato didn't respond.  He merely stared at Tsuyosa, filled with a newfound understanding, yet at the same time, felt very confused.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened, as he seemed to inch away, shaking his head.  "Stop it... stop looking at me like that...," he whispered.  "I'm a normal child!  Why are you looking at me like that!?"

      "... Tengoku...," Takato whispered, at a loss for words as he continued to look at Tsuyosa.

      "Stop it!"  Tsuyosa seemed to get more frantic as he inched away.  "Stop it now!  Don't look at me like that!  I'm a normal child!  I'm not sick!  Why are you looking at me like that!?"

      Takato's expression shifted to one of sympathy, if only for a moment, before changing to one of confusion.  He continued to look at Tsuyosa, unable to look away or think of anything more he could say.

      Tsuyosa winced, his eyes widening even more as he scrambled back.  "Don't... don't you dare!  DON'T YOU DARE!"

      "... Don't I dare, what?" Takato asked, confused.  A thought crossed his mind.  "... I'm not going to hit you..."

      "Don't you dare pity me!"  Tsuyosa pointed at Takato, accusingly.  "Don't you dare!  There's no reason to pity me!  Don't you dare!"  Tsuyosa gulped for air.  "Hit me!  Hit me!  Bust my nose open if that makes you feel better!  Just don't you dare pity me!"

      Takato stared at Tsuyosa as if he had gone insane.

      "I'm a normal kid!" Tsuyosa whimpered, as if he were suddenly cornered with no way out.  "I'm a normal kid!  Why would you pity me!?"

      "... Tengoku...," Takato whispered, trying desperately to think of something to say.  He couldn't help but feel bad for Tsuyosa, and it showed in his expression before he could stop it.

      "I don't... I don't need sympathy!"  Tsuyosa scrambled back, shaking.  "Don't look at me like I'm pitiful and pathetic!  Stop it!"

      "... I... I'm sorry...," Takato said softly.  "I... I didn't mean to..."

      Tsuyosa fumbled back a little more, then slipped and fell back down with a yelp.

      Takato stood up quickly and rushed over to Tsuyosa.  "Are you okay?" he asked, fearing the fall would cause Tsuyosa to cough up blood again.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato, horror and fear plain across his face.  "I'm fine...," he choked, his throat painfully constricted.

      Takato looked at Tsuyosa and cringed slightly at his expression.  He stood there, staring helplessly, as he had no idea what he should do or say.  This sort of situation never came up before in his life, and he certainly never dreamed that it could happen.

      "Why..."

      Takato blinked.  "Why what?" he asked, confused.

      "Why... why don't you believe me that I'm normal?" Tsuyosa whispered.  "Why... why can't you see that?"

      "..."  Takato couldn't answer that question.

      "I'm not sick...," Tsuyosa continued, his voice growing quieter.  "I'm not...  I'm no different than any of the other children...  You don't have any reason to treat me like I'm less than human..."

      "... I don't think you're less than human...," Takato said quietly after a few moments.

      Tsuyosa went quiet, shaking slowly, before he looked up at Takato.  "... Yes you do... you look at me like that... like you're saying 'that poor pitiful creature'...  I know that look...  My mother gave me that look..."

      "..."  Takato stared at Tsuyosa for a few moments before he looked away.  He couldn't look at the other boy if his gaze hurt him more than the coughing fit that had caused him to spill blood earlier.  "... I don't think that...," he whispered softly.

      Tsuyosa didn't reply, simply staring at Takato with an almost numb expression.

      "TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!"

      Tsuyosa didn't respond, holding his backpack in a dazed fashion.  Takato looked up at the sound after a moment, somewhat in a state of shock.

      Suddenly, a small black body lunged and hugged Tsuyosa desperately.

      "TSU!  TSU!" ChibiBa squeaked.  "Are you okay!?"

      Tsuyosa slowly looked at ChibiBa, disbelieving, then nodded.  "Y-yes..."

      "Takato!"

      Takato turned slowly about a moment or so after he heard his name being called.

      Juri ran towards them, panting, with Kenta and Hirokazu close behind.  A little farther back, Guilmon and Guardromon scampered after looking a bit worse for wear but otherwise fine.

      "Takato!" Juri repeated as she came to a stop next to Takato.  "Are you alright?"

      "Takato!  Hey man!  Are you okay!?" Hirokazu limped up, looking a bit pale but otherwise fine.

      "Did you and that guy fight?!" Kenta asked, helping support Hirokazu.

      Tsuyosa stared at the newcomers, ChibiBa cuddling him.

      "... I'm fine...," Takato said quietly as he nodded slowly.  "... We didn't fight."      ChibiBa hissed at the very idea, cuddling Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa absently stroked ChibiBa's head, pulling him close to hug him.

      "What happened?" Juri asked.  "When you ran off, I thought..."  She trailed off and looked at Tsuyosa meaningfully.

      "Did you nail him in the face?" Hirokazu asked.  He paused and looked at the grass in disbelief.  "There's blood!  What happened!?"

      Tsuyosa tensed and turned to stare at Takato, almost desperately.

      "..."  Takato looked over his shoulder at Tsuyosa, his expression one of an unidentifiable emotion.  He looked away from all of them after a moment.  "... Nothing."

      Tsuyosa stared in disbelief, his arms tightening around ChibiBa.

      "... Tsu?" ChibiBa looked at Tsuyosa, his expression dark.

      "... Nothing happened, ChibiBa..." Tsuyosa whispered.

      "Aww, man," Hirokazu groaned in disappointment.  "You didn't even land ONE punch in?"

      "I'll punch you in a minute!" ChibiBa hissed.  "I still haven't paid you back for the one you hit Tsu with!"

      "You and what army!?" Hirokazu barked.

      "Me and THIS ARMY!" ChibiBa roared, lunging at Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu squealed in alarm and quickly whirled and ran from ChibiBa.  "H-HEY!  I was only joking!" he yelped.

      "OH DEAR, OH DEAR!" Guardromon squealed.  He bolted after his Tamer, wanting to help Hirokazu before he got hurt again, even if he didn't stand a chance against the tiny Mega.

      "W-WAIT FOR ME, HIROKAZU!" Kenta squeaked as he ran after Hirokazu, just in case ChibiBa wanted to take out his anger on him too.

      "No fighting!  Remember?!" Juri whirled to race after, frantically.

      "C-Chi...," Tsuyosa looked up, feeling highly bewildered.

      Guilmon darted over to Takato quickly, wanting to protect his own Tamer should ChibiBa turn his attention to him next.

      Takato smiled a bit at his digimon partner before he looked back at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, his black eye still very much visible.  Takato looked at Tsuyosa for a few moments, his expression indescribable, before he walked over and kneeled before the other boy.  Tsuyosa tensed, his eyes widening with confusion.  With surprising gentleness, Takato reached out to touch Tsuyosa's black eye.  "... That looks bad...," Takato said softly, concerned.  "You should have it checked..."

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened even further, as he held perfectly still, unsure of how to react to such a statement.  Takato's fingers brushed against his skin as lightly as feathers so as not to harm Tsuyosa's bruised skin any further.  Tsuyosa glanced, slowly, at the hand and blinked.  His cheeks pinked ever so lightly.  "... A-all right."

      Takato smiled ever so slightly and pulled his hand away before standing up.

      "Takatomon?" Guilmon asked as he blinked at his Tamer.

      Takato walked over to Guilmon and pat his head.  "Come on, let's go try to stop ChibiBa from killing Hirokazu," he said.  He then looked back at Tsuyosa, about to say something to him, but then decided not to and looked away.

      "Okay, Takato," Guilmon nodded.

      "TSUUUU!!!"

      Suddenly, ChibiBa lunged and clung to Tsuyosa, who fell over with a squeak.

      "I'M SORRY!  I LEFT YOU ALONE AGAIN!" ChibiBa wailed.  "I'M A HIDEOUS DIGIMON!"  Tsuyosa squeaked and fumbled to get up, then sweat-dropped as ChibiBa wailed piteously.

      "See you later, Tengoku."

      Tsuyosa looked up, startled, as Takato started to walk away towards his friends, whom remained a good distance away to avoid reminding ChibiBa of his wrath.  Tsuyosa opened his mouth, then snapped it shut when no retort came to him.  He simply stared down at the grass and nodded.

      "... See you..."


	5. Busy Night

Authors' Notes: You know the drill; we don't own Tamers (although that'll change shortly *cue evil laughter*), but we DO own Sera, Tsuyosa, and all other new characters we add into our story.  Do not steal or we'll go mid-evil on yer arse!  Oh, and in case anyone was wondering about Juri's puppet and Yamaki's lighter in the last chapter, let's just say that old habits die hard.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 5: Busy Night_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Eeeuuuhh..."

      Impmon felt hideous.

      Everything hurt; his eyes, his muscles, even his nose.  He felt like he was dying.  Slowly, he opened his eyes and winced at the light.  "Uuuuuggghhhhawww...," he moaned.

      Impmon blinked as he found himself sitting on the couch in a large, fancy looking living room.  Confused, he made to move, but found something warm snuggled against him.  He turned to look, blurrily, at whatever it was against him.  Snuggled against him, sleeping peacefully was Jenrya's little sister Shuichon.  Shuichon sighed, nuzzling Impmon's soft purple fur.  Impmon stared, dumbfounded.

      Impmon's eyes darted around as he twitched, unsure of whether to scream or just run.  He paused and looked up when he heard the sound of footsteps.

      Impmon stared as Jenrya walked in to the room, wearing a clean shirt with Terriermon and Lopmon in tow.  He was carrying a small glass of some sort of white liquid with him.

      Impmon blinked repeatedly and frowned slightly before squeaking as Shuichon hugged him tightly.

      "You're finally awake," Jenrya observed, keeping his voice carefully low.

      Impmon nodded weakly, glancing at Shuichon.  Shuichon purred, nuzzling Impmon's sides.  She tightened her grip around his waist, sighing about a princess.

      Terriermon snickered and was about to say something when Lopmon put a paw over his mouth.  "Remember, Shuichon's dad said not to provoke him," she reminded quietly.  Terriermon pouted, crossing his arms.

      Impmon blinked slowly, then sighed and slouched in to the couch, his ears drooping.

      Jenrya sat down next to Impmon and Shuichon, and handed Impmon the glass he held.  "Here, drink this.  My dad says it'll help your hangover," he explained.

      "Huhn?" Impmon looked at Jenrya, blankly.  He took the glass, then sniffed it and winced.  "More sour juice?"

      "It's called sake, and yeah, I know it seems weird, but my dad swears it'll help you feel a bit better," Jenrya said with a shrug.

      "... Oh," Impmon looked at the sake, then sipped it slowly.  He resisted the urge he had to throw up and quietly finished the drink before handing it back to Jenrya.  "Eeee..."  Strangely enough, it did help make the pain ease up a bit.

      Jenrya took the empty glass and placed it down on the coffee table.

      "... Ah?" Impmon blinked and itched his head, then squeaked when Shuichon tightened her grip.  Terriermon covered his mouth to suppress his snickering, while Lopmon shot him a warning look.

      "Princess Pretty Pants...," Shuichon sighed, rubbing her cheek against Impmon's stomach, the digimon in question looking thoroughly uncomfortable as she did so.  This time Terriermon couldn't hold himself back and burst out cackling at Impmon.

      "..."  Impmon looked at Terriermon, levelly.

      "Terriermon!" Lopmon said, her gaze flattening at her green colored counterpart.

      Terriermon looked back at Impmon, snickering.  "What?" he asked 'innocently'.

      "... I think she's calling you," Impmon grunted before he tried to get comfortable on the couch.

      Jenrya placed his hands onto his lap and looked at Impmon calmly.  "... Impmon, do you mind if we have a little talk with you?" he asked.

      "... Talk?" Impmon looked at Jenrya, suspiciously.  "About what?  I didn't do anything."

      "Nobody's saying you did," Jenrya said, trying to soothe Impmon's suspicions.  "We're just concerned about you."

      "... C-concerned?" Impmon stared at Jenrya.  "Why?"

      "Well... you're our friend, Impmon," Jenrya said simply.  Lopmon nodded, then glanced at Terriermon, who was making faces at Impmon, and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.  He yelped, and then reluctantly nodded too.

      Impmon blinked, and then drooped his ears.  "Oh..."

      "Why did you get yourself drunk?" Jenrya asked.

      "..."  Impmon looked at his feet.  "The guy with the cart said it'd make you feel better."

      "Why would you need something to make you feel better?"

      "..."  Impmon wiggled his feet.  "... 'Cause I felt crappy."

      "Why?  What's wrong?" Jenrya asked, genuinely concerned.  Lopmon slapped her paw over Terriermon's mouth as he was about to make a comment.  She gave him a look and he just shrugged at her.

      "..."  Impmon looked at Jenrya, pointedly.  "Renamon didn't blab to ya?"

      Jenrya blinked, confused.  "Huh?  What do you mean?" he asked.

      Impmon looked at Jenrya, his expression thoughtful and suspicious all at once.  He didn't like the idea of talking about it; he didn't need Tamers, anyway, and that including needing one to talk to.  But the idea of talking to him seemed so very inviting.

      But then, what exactly had he gotten from trusting humans?  Back in the gutter, rejected under no uncertain terms.

      "... Just because."  Impmon looked back at his feet, his expression hardening.

      Jenrya looked at Impmon, frowning, before he looked at Terriermon and Lopmon.  Lopmon looked concerned while Terriermon frowned and crossed his arms.  "Yeah, right, and I'm the Digimon Kaiser," he quipped.

      "Terriermon!" Jenrya and Lopmon said at the same time.

      Impmon narrowed his eyes slightly, and then looked at Jenrya.  "... Oi," he grunted.  Jenrya and the two rabbit-like digimon directed their attention back at Impmon.  "Ask Ai and Makoto where my D-Arc is." he said, quietly.

      "Okay...," Jenrya said slowly.

      Lopmon frowned while Terriermon looked more than a little irritated.  "Oh, come ON, Impmon," he antagonized.  "You can tell us what happened between you and your Tamers.  I mean, you already mentioned they threw your D-Arc away while you were drunk off your butt."

      Impmon's eyes widened as his cheeks flushed with humiliation, his claws clenching in to fists.

      "Terriermon!" Jenrya scolded.

      "What?!  Don't tell me I was the only one who wanted to hear his story?" Terriermon asked.

      Lopmon glared at Terriermon.  "You have NO tact whatsoever," she snapped.

      Impmon said nothing, glaring at his feet intensely.  Shuichon seemed to sense his agitation and hugged him tighter.  "Princess...?" she crooned, eyes slowly opening.  Impmon glanced down at her, his cheek twitching as he tried to will the humiliated flush from his face.

      Terriermon started to laugh, but Lopmon quickly stopped that with an elbow to his ribs.

      Shuichon and Impmon locked gazes, then suddenly the little girl squealed happily and hugged him close.  "You're awake, Princess!" she giggled, cutely.  "Now we can have a tea party!"

      Terriermon would have made a comment towards Impmon about being a Princess, but Lopmon's threatening gaze stopped him from doing so.

      "I'm not a princess," Impmon retorted, then he paused and blinked.  "Tea party?"

      "Yes!" Shuichon smiled.  "With cake and cookies and everything!"

      Impmon blinked at her, slowly.  "Cakes and cookies?" he stared.

      "Uh huh."

      "... For people at the party?"

      "Shuichon has excellent cakes and cookies at her tea parties," Lopmon offered, noticing Impmon's interest.

      "Yep!  Only for princesses, though," Shuichon replied.

      "..."  A slow grin crossed Impmon's face as he tilted his head.  "Just call me Princess."

**_*~*_**

      Ai and Makoto slept peacefully together on their matching pink and blue futons in their room.  The balloons they got from the circus, as well as half-eaten bits of candy and some cheap toys, littered the room about them.

      Sera watched the two children sleep.  They had exhausted themselves over the excitement of the circus, and went to bed early without too much of a struggle.

      She found herself grateful for the rare quiet moment she had with her cousins.  She always enjoyed being around them the most when they were sleeping.  Whenever they were awake they'd be such a handful that it was almost too much to handle.

      Silently, Sera closed the door and walked out into the living room, stretching her arms over her head and popping her shoulders as she went.

      The twins weren't the only ones that had gotten exhausted.

      Sera sighed as she sat down upon the sofa and then immediately lay down upon it.  "What a day...," she muttered aloud.

      Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only around seven, which left a few hours before her aunt and uncle would return.

      "Can't nap while babysitting," she muttered bitterly.  "... I guess I should really do my homework."  She grimaced at the thought, like any other teenager would at the prospect of doing extra work while tired.

      Sera rolled over, reaching out to grab her backpack, when she felt something jab into her chest painfully.  She winced and sat up immediately.  "What the...?"

      There was the soft clunk of plastic as the white and purple D-Arc fell from its place in her jacket pocket.  She reached down and picked it up, checking it over for any sort of damage.  "Oh yeah, my card reader...."

      She leaned back against the sofa and examined the D-Arc closely.  "I wonder how it got over here anyway...," she mused.  "I don't remember ever bringing it over."

      Idly, she started pushing buttons on it, watching the small screen light up with a tiny grid.  The grid moved as she pushed the purple buttons, but other than that, nothing happened.

      "... I should probably swipe a card in it to see if it even still works," she thought, her brows furrowed.

      Sitting back up again, Sera reached into her school bag and rooted around inside of it for a small plastic case of digimon game cards.  She opened the case and glanced through her cards for one she wanted to try first.  After a moment of looking, she held up a card that got her attention.  "This'll do."  Carefully she aligned the card against the card-reading slot on the D-Arc, and then slowly slashed it through.

      Suddenly, the D-Arc glowed brightly as Sera ran the card through.  She yelped in surprise and dropped the card and D-Arc into her lap.  She blinked and glanced at her hand, which didn't get shocked like she had at first feared.  She then looked at the D-Arc, which displayed an image of six wings of white light on the tiny screen.

**_*~*_**

      Meanwhile, Impmon idly sipped his tea.  He ignored the fact that he was in a pink frilly dress, his ears done up in ribbons, while sitting next to Terriermon and Lopmon.  The cake tasted far too good to complain.

      However, suddenly, six wings burst out of his back and glowed.  Impmon had just enough time to open his eyes before he flew upwards and hit the ceiling.

      With a squeak, the wings disappeared and Impmon plummeted back in to his seat, disoriented but his teacup undisturbed.

      "... Good tea.  A bit spicy...," he muttered, dazed.

**_*~*_**

      "What the heck was that?" Sera wondered, confused.  "...Is it malfunctioning?"

      Cautiously, she picked the D-Arc back up and checked it over for damage.  She didn't see any damage, and she noticed the image of wings disappeared from the tiny screen.  "... I wonder why it did that...," she muttered.  She glanced at her card and then put it back with the others before picking up a new one at random.  "Maybe it was the card that did it..."

      She slashed the card through the D-Arc without looking at it, keeping a careful eye on the card slot.

      Two words flashed across the screen.

      Self-destruct set.

**_*~*_**

      Meanwhile, Impmon continued to sip the tea, however suspiciously, when he felt an odd tingling sensation.

      Suddenly, an explosion shook the room, filling it with purple smoke.

      Impmon sat in his chair, his expression solemn, as he looked particularly charred and unhappy.

      Shuichon was thankfully absent from the room at the time as she had gone to get more cakes.  Lopmon and Terriermon, on the other hand, were not as lucky.

      Lopmon coughed as Terriermon picked himself off the floor.  "Geez, Impmon," he muttered as he dusted himself off.  "Bad gas?"

      "..." Impmon looked at Terriermon, levelly.  "Silence, peon.  That's Princess Impmon to you."

**_*~*_**

      Sera looked over her hands and at the D-Arc in silent wonder.  The sparks it had made didn't seem to hurt either her hands or the card she used.  "I wonder if they added special affects to these models," she thought.

      "..."

      She mulled that thought over for a few moments.

      "Dang, this is COOL," Sera said aloud, smiling brightly.  She then proceeded to sort through her cards for others she could try out, just to see if special cards had special affects on the D-Arc.

      "Perfect!" Sera chirped brightly as she selected five rare cards from her deck.  With that she slashed one of the cards through the D-Arc.

**_*~*_**

      Meanwhile, Impmon sat and tried once more to sip his tea.  Suddenly, he flashed and his fur turned red.  Then, it turned blue, followed by green, black, and white.  He slowly looked up and scowled, slightly.  "Okay, this is going too far."

      "Whoa!  Don't ever drink again, Impmon," Terriermon snickered.  "It does STRAAAANGE things to ya!"

      "PRINCESS Impmon."

      "Princess Pretty Pants!" Terriermon quipped.

      "That's right, Queen mother."

      "Impmon, this isn't normal," Lopmon said, concerned.  "Do you have any idea what could be causing these strange things to all of a sudden start happening to you?"

      Impmon shrugged, then blinked as he returned to his normal purple color.  He paused, and then eyed the tea.  "... It's not the tea, right?"

      "If it is, then we'd be affected too," Lopmon pointed out.

      "Maybe it's because of all that sake you drank, Widdle Pwincess Pwette Paaaants," Terriermon teased.

      Impmon snorted and sipped the tea.

      Suddenly a giant chainsaw appeared in Impmon's hands, the blades whirring rapidly, slicing into the air.  Impmon's eyes bugged out and he squeaked.  He fell backwards, yowling.  "EEEYAH!"

      Terriermon and Lopmon cried out and instantly leapt away from Impmon and the whirring chainsaw.

      Unprepared for the chainsaw's sudden weight, it dropped downwards in Impmon's hands and sliced through the table.  Thankfully, the chainsaw disappeared as suddenly as it came before it dug too far into the carpeting.

      Impmon stared, shaking violently, as he sat on the floor.  "W-what the... what is IN that tea!?" he whispered, hoarsely.

      Lopmon and Terriermon stared at their cups, then pushed them away slowly.

**_*~*_**

      Night crept across the sky, creating a thick blanket of darkness and stars.  Crickets sang loudly as the humid air slowly filtered in through Takato's bedroom window.

      Takato stared up at his ceiling blankly from where he lay in bed.  No matter how much he willed it, sleep wouldn't come to him; his mind was too troubled to allow him rest.  He closed his eyes and covered his face with a hand.  Images of what had occurred that afternoon between him and Tsuyosa that afternoon kept replaying in his mind without end.

      "Get out of my head...," Takato whispered in the dark.  He rolled over onto his side, curling up slightly.

      Nothing made sense.

      He thought he had a rather firm grasp on the situation in the beginning but now he realized that he had only begun to understand.

      He simply couldn't figure out Tsuyosa.  Why did Tsuyosa hate him and Guilmon so much?  Was it connected to the fact that he was sick?

      Takato flinched and grunted.

      Was Tsuyosa sick?  Why did he have all of those pills?  How had he been able to hide it for so long?  Why did he start coughing up blood?  Was it just because of the chase?

      Takato rolled over on to his stomach, muttering.

      What did Tsuyosa mean when he accused him of looking at him as if he were less than human?  A creature?

      However, the one thing that bothered Takato most about what had happened was the last thing Tsuyosa had said to him about the matter.  He mentioned his mother.

      Takato frowned slightly and lightly chewed on his knuckles, pondering.

      Why would Tsuyosa have said something like that?  Was it a slip of the tongue?  If so, what did it mean?

      Takato rolled on his back and stared out the window.

      "What on earth is up with that Tsuyosa Tengoku?"

**_*~*_**

      Sera examined the D-Arc in her hands, slowly turning it over.  "What a weird card reader...," she thought.  "I wonder why it doesn't display the numbers, just images...  And what's up with that sparking thing?  It's cool and all, but why did they do that?  It'd freak out parents."

      She hummed thoughtfully to herself as she sorted her cards and put them away.  "I'll mess around with it more when I get home," she muttered aloud.  At home she had a collection that included just about every card ever released, and some that weren't ever supposed to be released.

      Sera leaned back once done, and examined the D-Arc again.  She couldn't figure out how to make it work properly with the cards like other card readers, and there were no instructions for it.

      It was almost as if something was missing.

      Still, there seemed to be something very special to her about the 'card reader'.  There was just something about it, a feeling that couldn't be defined.  It wasn't something she could put into words; just that the D-Arc was important to her.

      The fact that Ai and Makoto had it was frightening; she didn't want to know what kind of damage they did to it.

      Suddenly, a loud thunk issued on the roof.  Silence ensued before being broken by the patter of tiny feet.

      Sera tensed at the sound, and looked up quickly, her train of thought lost.  "What was that?" she thought in alarm.

      The pattering continued for a few moments, as if something where literally running across the roof.  As the footsteps neared the end of the room, they stopped.

      Everything was quiet.

      "... Either that's a cat, or...," Sera let her thought trail off.   Quietly she stood up, absently putting the D-Arc into the inside of her jacket pocket as she did so, and hurried to check on Ai and Makoto just in case.

      The sound of a window opening filled the house with an eerie presence.

      Sera's hurried walk instantly turned into a full sprint as she ran for the twins' room.  Without thinking of her own safety, she flung the door open, slamming it against the wall.  "Ai!  Makoto!" she called, loudly as her eyes darted about the darkened bedroom.

      A soft 'nyar' issued, startled and curious.

      Sera quickly flicked the light switch on as she looked towards the soft sound.  She came face to face with a lithe, black cat with purple tiger stripes on its tail and paws.  It lashed its tail, gold eyes piercing, as its ears wiggled.  Her eyes widened with recognition.

      "Black Tailmon...," she breathed.

      The cat wrinkled its nose in response, then whirled and leapt out the window with a 'nyar'.  Sera stared at the cat, stunned momentarily, before she ran to the window and looked outside for it.  It darted across the yard, tail lashing, before it scrambled up the fence.  It paused on top of it, then peered up at Sera and wiggled its tail before leaping over the side and disappearing from view.

      Sera stared at where the cat was for a few long moments before she closed the window and used the latch to lock it closed.  "... That was a Black Tailmon...," she whispered aloud, more than a little stunned.  "Another digimon..."  She drew the curtains before she turned around and glanced at Ai and Makoto, who were both still asleep in their matching futons in spite of the commotion.

      "... Why was it here?" she wondered silently as she kneeled down between the futons.  She checked the twins, just in case the cat had hurt either of them, and felt relieved that they both appeared to be fine.  She stood up, and went over to flick the light switch back off.  Once done, she leaned against the doorframe and watched the twins sleep.  "... I wonder...," she thought.  "... Did it want them for some reason...?"

      An odd thought crossed her mind.  "... Is it because one of them is a Digi-Destined?  And it was their partner?"  She frowned a bit as another thought came.  "... Or was it an evil digimon that wanted them for some sinister purpose...?"

      Sera crossed her arms, brooding.  "... There's no way auntie and uncle will believe me if I tell them a DIGIMON snuck into Ai and Makoto's room...  I guess that means I'll have to keep this to myself..."

      She grimaced slightly as she didn't like the idea, but there wasn't much she could do without proof.  She was still reeling from the knowledge that digimon were real herself.

      "... I guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on them..."

      She stuck at her tongue in distaste.

      "Which means more babysitting.  Yay."

**_*~*_**

      "Tsuuuu, wake up!"

      No response.

      "... Tsu, it's morning.  Wake up."

      Still no response.

      "Tsu!  You can't sleep all day!  WAKE UP!  You'll miss school!"

      "... I never had perfect attendance anyway," came the muffled reply.

      ChibiBa scowled, irritably, down at Tsuyosa, as he remained completely covered by the blankets.  ChibiBa stood on the headboard, his claws digging in to the fine oak wood for support, as he leaned over and tugged on the deep gray blanket.

      "Tsu, you can't sleep forever."

      "Yes I can."

      ChibiBa grunted and glanced around the room, trying to find something to help him get Tsuyosa up.

      The room was a very nice and luxurious room, with a large television and entertainment center against the far wall.  Digimon toys covered the shelves as a huge pile of cards rested on the desk nestled between them.  However, nothing seemed to offer the exasperated digimon any help.

      "... Tsu, get up!" ChibiBa sighed, once more.  "I'll jump on the bed if you don't!

      "Go away and let me decompose."

      "... Okay, that's it!  Bed jumping time!"

      ChibiBa leapt off of the headboard and landed on the bed, causing it to bounce.  Tsuyosa yelped as ChibiBa literally bounced him out of the bed, causing the boy to land in a heap on the floor.  Tsuyosa peered out of the blankets, blurrily, as he adjusted his black and silver pajamas.  He glanced at ChibiBa, who beamed at him.

      "Good morning to you, too."

      "Right!  A lovely day!" ChibiBa cackled as he scampered for the nightstand and grabbed a brush.  He scrambled back across the bed and proceeded to brush Tsuyosa's hair, who rubbed his eyes and muttered incoherently.

      "What day is it?" Tsuyosa grunted, sleepily.

      "The day after yesterday," ChibiBa quipped.

      "... There was a yesterday?" Tsuyosa turned to look at ChibiBa, but squeaked when the digimon grabbed his head and turned it back around.

      "Hold still!  I'm brushing your hair!" ChibiBa scolded.

      "I can brush my own hair, ChibiBa...," Tsuyosa grumbled.

      "... Well I'm brushing it so nyah," ChibiBa razzed.  Tsuyosa blinked, and then flinched as ChibiBa continued to brush his hair enthusiastically.  "Well, we've got school today... and your dad says he'll take you to breakfast first," ChibiBa continued as he brushed Tsuyosa's hair.

      "Feh."

      "Feh to school or feh to your dad?" ChibiBa tilted his head.

      "Dad never keeps his word.  Something always comes up.  I'll be eating take out again." Tsuyosa grunted.

      "I like Chinese."  ChibiBa beamed as he parted Tsuyosa's hair.

      "You like everything."

      "True!"  ChibiBa jumped off the bed and scampered over to a chair, where Tsuyosa's school uniform sat.

      "So... we'll have breakfast with your dad..."  ChibiBa ignored Tsuyosa's snort of disbelief.  "... And then he'll drive us to that one school.  Today's the fieldtrip, remember?  You were looking forward to it."  ChibiBa hummed as he trotted over to Tsuyosa's dresser and started grabbing clothes, shoving them in his backpack.

      "I don't want to go to school today," Tsuyosa grumbled.  "I don't want to go anywhere."

      "This isn't about that Takato, is it?" ChibiBa glanced at Tsuyosa.

      "He saw the pills."

      "... So what?" ChibiBa snorted.  "Let him think what he wants.  Who cares?  Just say they're not yours."

      "I think it's obvious they're mine."  Tsuyosa looked at ChibiBa.

      "Some people use prescription drugs illegally," ChibiBa offered, helpfully.

      "I'm not a drug addict, ChibiBa!"

      "I guess that wouldn't work, huh?" ChibiBa tapped his chin.

      ChibiBa blinked as he heard the bed creak, then glanced back to see that Tsuyosa had climbed back on it and curled up under the blanket once more.

      "Oi!  Tsu!  Morning means UP!"

      "I'm not listening, I'm asleep," Tsuyosa mumbled.

      "I'll jump on the bed again!" ChibiBa warned.

      "I'm on drugs, remember?  I'm stoned.  Go away."

      "... Don't make me use the tickle attack on you."  ChibiBa crossed his arms.

      A soft snore.

      "... You asked for it!" ChibiBa grinned.

      ChibiBa hopped over to the bed, then slipped under the blanket.  Seconds later, a loud squeal issued and Tsuyosa scrambled of his bed and on to the floor breathlessly.  ChibiBa peeked out and beamed at him.

      "MORNING!" he repeated.

      Tsuyosa muttered irritably as he stood up.  ChibiBa pounced on to his shoulder and fixed Tsuyosa's frazzled hair with his claws, then nuzzled his cheek.

      "It's morning and we've got a whole day ahead of us!"

      "... Lovely."


	6. Embarrassing Situations

Authors' Notes:  Yes!  Another chapter posted so soon after the last one!  (Because, well, I was late in posting the last one)  As always we don't own Tamers (although we're working to change that), but we DO own Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters we add in!

BTW: Beware of Bambi.  And we don't mean the deer.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 6: Embarrassing Situations_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Takatoooo!"

      Takato grunted in response, snuggling in to his covers.

      "TAKATO!"

      Takato growled, pulling his pillow over his head.  He paused, and then blinked sleepily.  Slowly, he peeked out from under the bed to look at his clock.  Seconds later, it occurred to Takato that he had overslept by over an hour.

      Takato yowled and leapt out of his bed, slipping and landing head first on the floor.

      Takato's mother stood by the bottom of the steps, her hands on her hips, as she listened to Takato's frantic scrambling.  She scowled deeply as Takato burst out of his room, struggling to fix his clothes, and darted for the stairs.  "You overslept," she pointed out, as if he were not aware of the fact.

      "I know, mom, sorry!" he apologized quickly as he ran past her.  "Please give Guilmon some bread for breakfast for me!  Thanks!"  He darted into the kitchen, grabbed a roll of bread, and shoved it in his mouth as he ran out the door.  "Goodbye, mom, see you later!"

      "DON'T FORGET YOUR PERMISSION SLIP!" his mother yelled after him, waving a slip of paper in the air.

      Takato yelped as he remembered the class fieldtrip was today.  He immediately ran backwards and snatched the slip of paper from his mom.  "Thanks, mom!" he said quickly after removing the loaf of bread from his mouth.  With that he bolted back out the door and ran to school as quickly as he possibly could.

      His mother watched him run off, shaking her head ruefully.  She paused, then cupped her hands over her mouth.  "TAKE CARE!  BE CAREFUL!  WE LOVE YOU!  We'll take care of Guilmon!  Don't worry!"

      "I love you too!" he called back before he disappeared from sight.

      "That boy," his mother sighed, chuckling.

      "Hmm... a perfect chance!" Takato's father mused, then smirked evilly.  "Let's try my new recipes out!"

      "... New recipes?"

      "Let's see if he likes broccoli and mayo muffins!"

      "..."

**_*~*_**

      Impmon tiptoed, quietly, through Jenrya's house as he made for the window.  The free food almost wasn't worth the trouble of being 'Princess Pretty Pants' and the torture that came with it.

      After three hours of playing house, dress up, and Miss Make-up Makeover Factory, Impmon was more than a little tired of Shuichon.  Rubbing the rest of the pink eye shadow off his eyes, Impmon opened a window and peered outside.

      Now was the perfect time to leave, as everyone was asleep and he had eaten all of the cakes and cookies Shuichon had to offer.  And he had no intention of staying any longer than necessary.

      With an impressive leap, Impmon bounded out the window and landed gracefully onto a nearby telephone pole.

      Impmon smirked and skipped along the wires, feeling better after a good meal of sugar, frosting, and even more sugar.  Nothing made him feel better than a good old glucose high.

      Impmon hummed, merrily, as he walked with a slight spring in his step.

      Until the telephone pole suddenly jarred, as if something had hit it near its base, causing it to shake violently as a loud, pained cry ensued.

      Impmon squeaked as he fumbled, the wire jerking out from under him.  He yelped as he tumbled downwards, arms flailing hysterically.  He didn't fall as far as he should have, but it still hurt when he hit his head with a loud bonk onto something hard.

      Impmon's eyes crossed as he let out a whimpering 'itaaaaai' before falling to the ground, spasming.

      "Owww...," came a pained moan from the person Impmon fell onto.

      Impmon twitched a bit before his eyes slowly realigned to their original position.  "WATCH where yer goin'...!" he growled, weakly, as he rubbed his aching head.

      Sera rubbed her face, which was slightly red from where she had impacted into the telephone pole.  She was wearing her skating gear, which, of course, included a hard helmet, which had protected her head from the impact of when Impmon fell on her.  She blinked a few times as she gathered her bearings, and then looked down at Impmon.

      "Sorry-!" she began automatically, and then blinked as she realized whom it was she was talking to.

      Impmon blinked and looked up at her.  "..."

      "Impmon!" Sera gasped in surprise.

      "ACK!  It's that crazy glomping girl!" Impmon yelped.

      Sera blinked at the name.  "'Crazy glomping girl'?" she repeated.  She blinked again, and then giggled.  "Well, I've been called worse.  No, my name's Sera."  She kneeled down next to Impmon and smiled brightly at him.  "I've been hoping I'd run into you again!"

      Impmon looked at the girl suspiciously, looking her up and down.  "... You were?  Why?" he asked, warily.

      That was when Impmon saw something attached to a chain dangling from her belt and pocket.

      Impmon's jaw dropped and he stared.  "What are you doing with my D-Arc!?" he demanded.

      Sera blinked at Impmon, confused.  "Huh?  What's a D-Arc?" she asked.

      Impmon pointed at the device in question, scowling.

      Sera blinked again and glanced at the D-Arc.  "You mean my card reader?" she asked.

      "It's not a card reader!" Impmon snarled.  "It's my D-Arc!  What are you doing with it!?"

      Sera just blinked again, looking even more confused.  "... Umm... I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her brows furrowed slightly.  "Maybe you've confused my card reader for this 'D-Arc' of yours?  Because, I'm pretty certain this is mine."  She paused for a second.  "What is a D-Arc anyway?  Another term for a card reader?"

      "... No!" Impmon huffed and put his claws on his hips.  "A D-Arc is a device Tamers use to scan in cards to affect their digimon!"  Impmon paused suddenly, then glared piercingly at her.  "Were you scanning things in it?"

      "Tamers?" Sera blinked.  She blinked again and then nodded.  "Uh... yeah, why?"

      "... So that was you!?" Impmon thundered, pointing a claw at her.  "You nearly killed me!  What where you thinking, scanning junk in to that thing!?"  Impmon paused again.  "... And why can you use it, anyway!?  Ai and Makoto are... were... my Tamers!"

      Sera blinked slowly, absorbing the information.  "... Uh... sorry?" she apologized with uncertainty; not seeing why scanning cards would nearly kill someone.  "I didn't realize..."  She paused.  "... Do you mean Digi-Destined when you say Tamers?"

      "... Yeah, I guess so," Impmon blinked, taken off guard by the question.

      "Oh!  It makes sense now!" Sera exclaimed as she bopped a fist into her palm.  "You and that Black Tailmon must be Ai and Makoto's partners and Ai and Makoto are Digi-Destined!"

      "Black WHAT?" Impmon blinked.  "No, it was just me, Ai, and Mako-chan."

      Sera frowned sharply.  "Ai and Makoto were partnered with an IMPMON of all digimon and they didn't tell me?" she muttered to herself, feeling a bit offended.  She then spoke louder, directing her words towards Impmon.  "A Black Tailmon," she repeated.

      "What about it?"  Impmon tilted his head before his eyes widened drastically.  "T-They got a NEW Digimon!?  They replaced me!?"

      "Actually, I'm not sure," Sera explained.  "I caught it sneaking into their room last night, but it ran away when it saw me."  She then shrugged.  "I don't know for sure if it's really one of their partners or not."

      "..."  Impmon narrowed his eyes.  "... What's up with that?" he wondered, aloud.

      Sera just shrugged in response.

      Impmon wrinkled his nose, and then shook his head.  "Well, whatever!  It's not my concern anymore!  They ain't my Tamers no more!" he growled.  He looked at Sera.  "So what are you doing with my D-Arc?!"

      Sera's brow furrowed thoughtfully.  "Okay, I'm a bit confused now...," she muttered.  "I'm positive this 'D-Arc' is mine, because I've had it for a while now, but you're saying when I ran cards through it last night, it did stuff to you, right?"

      "Yes, it did!" Impmon scowled.

      Sera unhooked the device in question from the chain at her side and looked at it.  "..."  She looked between it and Impmon thoughtfully.  Her eyes widened as a thought came to her.  "... Does this mean I'm a Digi-Destined, er, Tamer, and you're my partner?!" she gasped, stunned.

      Impmon's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.  "W-what!?" he squeaked.

      "I mean... If this is both mine and yours... then that'd make us partners, wouldn't it?" Sera asked, uncertain.  "... Am I wrong?"

      "But... what... I..."  Impmon simply stared at her.

      Sera looked the D-Arc over again, thoughtfully, trying to explain her train of thought.  "If this is anything like the Digivices in the anime, I'd think it would..."  She looked at Impmon hopefully.  "... You think?"

      Impmon stared at her, his jaw dropped, before his eyes rolled in to the back of his head and he fell to the ground in a heap.

**_*~*_**

      "Nyar!"

      With a hop and a twist, Black Tailmon landed on the circus grounds gracefully.  She paused and glanced about, blinking slowly, before she charged towards the large tent.  The circus was relatively empty, save for the occasional creature working on the grounds, because of how early in the morning it was.

      Black Tailmon easily evaded notice as she disappeared in to the tent.  Standing in the center, staring thoughtfully at the cloth roof, was the panda creature who had been handing out flyers.  The panda looked up at Black Tailmon, blinking, then returned its gaze to the ceiling.

      "What happened."  It was a demand, not a question.

      "Nyaaaar," Black Tailmon purred, slinking up.  "I was seen."

      "You were careless."  The panda turned to glare at her.

      "She knew who... and what I was," Black Tailmon continued, ignoring the panda's insinuation.

      "Is she a Tamer?" the panda quirked a brow.

      "I don't know," Black Tailmon purred, silkily.  "But she was pretty.  You might like her."

      "... I'll have to look in to it, then," the panda muttered.  "But what about the two?"

      "She's at the school, going on a fieldtrip," Black Tailmon smiled, seductively.  "I'll just nab them while she's gone."

      "Sounds good," the panda returned to staring at the ceiling.  "Oh, and, Black Tailmon?"

      "Nyaaar?"

      "Don't use the tent like a scratching post while I'm gone."

      "Poo."

**_*~*_**

      "Sorry I'm late, Miss Asanuma."

      "Takato...," Ms.  Asanuma moaned as she put a hand to her head.  "I thought I reminded you enough yesterday about this fieldtrip."

      "I know, I'm sorry," Takato bowed apologetically to his teacher a few times.  "I couldn't sleep last night.  Sorry!"

      "Too excited about the trip, huh?" Ms.  Asanuma asked wryly.  "Well, you're too late to get on the bus with the rest of the class, so you're going to have to get on one of the other busses.  Hurry up and find a seat.  We're going to leave in about ten minutes."

      "Right, Miss Asanuma," Takato said.  He was about to run over to one of the busses, when Ms.  Asanuma placed a hand on his shoulder.

      "I hope you remembered not to bring that digimon of yours," she said warily.

      "Yeah... Guilmon's back at home."  Takato sighed a bit, sad that he couldn't bring his best friend and partner along with him.

      "Good.  I hope the rest of your friends remembered to do the same.  Now hurry and get on a bus."  Takato nodded then quickly ran off to one of the busses.

      Almost all of the busses where already filled, save one in the far end of the line.  Most of the students on that particular bus wore brilliant colored navy blue and gold suits, or matching sailor outfits depending on their gender.

      The teacher by the bus blinked at Takato as he arrived.  "Hmm?  A late arrival, I guess?"  The teacher flipped through the list, as if searching.  "What's your name?"

      "Ah, here you are!" the teacher smiled.  "Nice to see you made it.  Welcome aboard.  There should be some seats left.  Find one and get comfortable!"

      "Thank you, sir," Takato said, relieved, and hurried onto the bus.

      The bus was filled with children wearing the same uniform; they were obviously from the same private school.  Many looked up to blink at Takato, then shrugged and returned to their own private discussions.  The bus was so crowded that every seat was filled, save one.

      That seat was right next to Tsuyosa Tengoku.

      Takato started at the sight of Tsuyosa, and frowned slightly.  The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him; he almost missed the trip because he couldn't stop thinking about Tsuyosa, and now Takato had to sit by him.  Sighing, he went over to the empty seat and sat down without a word, seeing as there were no other seats around.

      At least it seemed that ChibiBa wasn't going to be on the trip with them as well.

      Tsuyosa didn't seem to realize Takato had sit down, lost in his own thoughts as he stared.  He wore the same uniform as the rest of the students on the bus, which sharply contrasted with his backpack.

      Takato fidgeted slightly, and couldn't help but keep glancing at Tsuyosa occasionally, wondering if he should greet the other boy or not.  If he did...

      Takato wasn't sure what would happen considering the events of the previous day.  Considering what had happened, he wasn't sure if Tsuyosa would purposely upset him like every other time they talked, or if something else would happen instead.

      Sighing, Takato looked away from Tsuyosa and tried to look out the window on the other side of the bus as best he could.

      The situation was unbearably awkward.

      Tsuyosa simply sighed deeply, oblivious to Takato and his internal conflict.  In fact, Tsuyosa was so oblivious to most of his surroundings that he unconsciously ended up locking eyes with the very panda creature from the circus.  The two stared, Tsuyosa's eyes widening, as the panda's own narrowed to slits.  Tsuyosa gasped sharply and jerked back, alarmed.

      When Tsuyosa leaned forward to try and find the panda again, it was already gone.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, confused.  Takato blinked as he heard Tsuyosa gasp, and turned to look at him.

      Tsuyosa glanced around the window searchingly as he blinked, looking for the panda.  "Was that a digimon?" he whispered, to himself.

      "A digimon?" Takato asked before he could stop himself.

      Tsuyosa nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled, his face pale.  "Ah-?!"

      Takato forced down the urge to grimace at his mistake, and instead smiled nervously at Tsuyosa.  "Uh...  Hi?" he said uneasily.

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly, staring at him in an almost uncomprehending fashion.

      "... My bus ran out of room," Takato explained.

      "... Oh."

      Tsuyosa slowly sat back down, eying Takato warily before his gaze drifted back out the window.  Takato rubbed his arms out of nervousness as he looked at Tsuyosa, and then looked away, uncomfortable.  Tsuyosa fidgeted, suddenly feeling very self-conscious, and held his backpack close to his chest as he stared out the window.  Takato glanced over at Tsuyosa occasionally, wondering if he should say something.  Tsuyosa glanced at Takato, and then turned to look out the window.

      He came face to face with the panda, which pressed its face tightly against the glass.  Tsuyosa stared, his entire body tensing as he paled.

      "W-what..." Tsuyosa squeaked.

      Takato blinked and turned to look at Tsuyosa again.  Tsuyosa glanced at Takato, eyes wide, then snapped about to stare at the panda only to find it gone.  "... W-where'd it go?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "Where did what go?" Takato asked curiously.  He had completely missed seeing the panda's face in the window.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato, then looked out the window again.

      "... Nothing..." he muttered quietly as he clutched the backpack closer.

      Takato looked at Tsuyosa levelly, not believing him.  Tsuyosa tried to ignore Takato's gaze, but ended up shivering under it and turning to look at him.

      "... Are you ever going to give me a straight answer?" Takato asked, flatly.

      "You wouldn't believe me." Tsuyosa grunted.

      "Try me."

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato suspiciously, then looked at the floor.  He wasn't about to look out the window again.  "I saw a digimon, I think."

      "A digimon?" Takato blinked.  "Are you sure?"

      Tsuyosa took his turn to look at Takato, levelly.  "What would you call a small panda wearing a scarf, walking around without anyone noticing?"

      "... It could be one of those people dressed up in costumes for the circus that's in town," Takato offered.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, then looked away and snorted.  "I knew it."

      "... I'm not saying I don't believe you," Takato muttered.  "I'm just saying that it COULD be one of them."

      "Would a costume leave snot on the window?"

      Suddenly, two boys were jolted slightly in their seats as the bus started to move.  Tsuyosa yelped as he tumbled to the floor, unprepared for the movement.  Takato yowled and tumbled down along with Tsuyosa, as he was also unprepared for the bus to suddenly start up.  He ended up falling on top of the other boy.  Tsuyosa squealed as he was crushed against the floor, pinned by the larger boy's body against the cold surface.  

      Takato grunted as he recovered from the impact.  He then blushed, eyes widening drastically, as he realized just how compromising a position he had been thrown into.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato, wide eyed as the situation dawned on him as well, then squirmed violently to try and get free.

      Takato quickly got up off of Tsuyosa, his face red, and fell back onto the seat after standing up.  He scooted away from Tsuyosa quickly, giving the other boy a wide girth.  Tsuyosa scrambled up in to his seat, blushing violently, and swiveled to avoid looking at Takato...

      ...And ended up face to face with the panda again.

      The panda pressed its nose tightly against the window, snorting.  Tsuyosa stared, then squeaked and fell out of his seat again.

      Takato blinked down at Tsuyosa, a blush still faintly on his cheeks.  "...Eh?" he squeaked.

      Tsuyosa pointed frantically at his window.  "Look!"

      Takato quickly turned to look out the window, but the panda had already disappeared again.  "... I don't see anything," he commented.

      Unbeknownst to Takato and Tsuyosa, the panda had lost its grip on the bus and slipped.  It bounced against the road a few times before coming to a stop in a ditch.

      The panda stood up, shaking the muck off of its body, then watched the bus pull away sadly.

      Tsuyosa turned to stare at the window in disbelief, then stood up and pointed at the window.  "LOOK!  There's SNOT!" he hissed.  "There was something THERE!"

      Takato blinked and leaned in closer to examine the window more closely, accidentally brushing against Tsuyosa as he did so.  Tsuyosa blushed lightly at the contact but refused to show that it affected him, his finger still adamantly pointing at the single goopy nose print.  

      "... I see it," Takato muttered, blinking repeatedly.  He leaned back into his seat, oblivious to how close he had gotten to Tsuyosa when he leaned over.  Takato looked at Tsuyosa, his expression sheepish.  "... Sorry."

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, shakily, before he collapsed in his seat and covered his face.  "I'm being stalked by a panda?" he muttered.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon moaned and opened his eyes, wincing as he felt a dull throbbing coarse through his head.  He supposed hitting his head on a crazy glomping girl's helmet would naturally hurt.

      Such a thought jarred Impmon to reality.

      Impmon sat up, eyes widening, as he looked around in a panicked manner.  He remembered fainting, but not much after that.

      Impmon was on a large bed in a small wooden cabin, surrounded by other unused beds.  He blinked, then rubbed the back of his head and winced.  "What the..."

      "Oh, you're finally awake!"

      Sera walked out of the bathroom of the cabin, adjusting her shirt slightly, and looked at Impmon in concern.  Her normal outfit had been replaced with a pair of tan jean shorts and a neon orange T-shirt with the word "Chaperone" proudly emblazed across the chest, and a small logo of a camp just above it.

      Impmon blinked once, then stared.  "You..."

      Sera walked over to the bed Impmon was in, and sat down next to him.  "How're you feeling?" she asked.

      "Um..."  Impmon stared at Sera, blankly.  "... Heh, d-don't worry about me!  I'm always fine!  Nothing gets to me!" he stuttered, trying to sound casual.

      Sera smiled at Impmon brightly.  "That's good," she chirped.  "You really had me worried when you suddenly fainted like that."

      "I didn't faint," Impmon grunted, defensively.

      "Okay, when you passed out then," Sera corrected.

      "..."  Impmon could see he wasn't getting anywhere, so he sighed and lay back down on the bed.

      Sera watched Impmon in silence, her expression thoughtful.

      Impmon glanced at Sera, noticing her gaze.  "... What are you lookin' at?"

      "You," Sera responded simply, smiling at him.

      "You ain't thinkin' of hugging me again, are you?" Impmon glowered.

      "Actually, I was," Sera admitted.  "But I won't, since you'd run away if I did."

      "... Yeah, well, good," Impmon grunted.  "I ain't in to that mushy junk."

      "Why not?" Sera asked, blinking.

      Impmon made a disgusted face and stuck his tongue out.  "It's just plain' gross!"

      "Why?"

      Impmon stared at Sera, dumbfounded by the question.  "Because it's gross!" he replied, as if such a thing didn't need explaining.

      Sera paused, a thoughtful look crossing her features.  "Have you ever tried it?" she asked.

      "What!?  NO!"

      "Then how do you know it's gross if you've never tried it?"

      "I've seen it!" Impmon scoffed.  "It's all gross and... lippy!"

      "Lippy?" Sera blinked.

      "YES.  Lippy!" Impmon scowled.

      "Well, maybe you should try it sometime.  You might find you like it," Sera suggested.

      "Try it!?"  Impmon stared at her, aghast.

      "Yeah.  I mean, why shouldn't you?"

      "Because it's GROSS," Impmon repeated, firmly.  "That stuff's for nasty humans, anyway!"

      "Hmmm..."  Sera looked at Impmon thoughtfully.  "Let's test that theory, shall we?"

      "Huh?" Impmon blinked at her.

      Sera didn't reply, instead she merely smiled at Impmon.  She then proceeded to lean over and wrap her arms around him, bringing him into a warm hug before he could react.

      Impmon blinked repeatedly, then squealed like a wounded animal as he blushed a brilliant shade of crimson.  "HEEEEY!"

      "Hey what?" Sera asked coyly as she continued to hug Impmon.

      "YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GONNA DO ANY MUSHY JUNK!" he roared, trying to squirm free.

      "Oh yeah...," she shrugged.  "Guess I forgot."

      "... Well now you remember."  Impmon glared at her, cheeks still quite red.

      "Yup!" Sera agreed merrily, still hugging Impmon.

      "... So stop!"

      "Why?"

      Impmon simply glared at her.

      "Is it gross?" Sera asked curiously.

      Impmon crossed his arms and glowered at her, still blushing.  "... Yes!  Now let go!"

      "Really?" Sera blinked, leaning back slightly, but still keeping Impmon in the hug.  "I don't find it gross.  You're nice and warm and soft."

      "..."  Impmon had no idea how to respond to that.

      "Well... I guess if you REALLY don't like it...," Sera trailed off with a regretful sigh as she let Impmon go.

      "... ... Um..."  Impmon pondered his situation.  A cute girl was holding him in her lap.  Even though she was human, she did have a certain charm about her.  The most obvious one being that the powers that be where not stingy when dealing out the womanly attributes to her.

      Impmon blushed as he tapped his chin, debating whether his hate of humans overruled the fact that he was on a big-busted girl's lap.

      Sera leaned in closely to Impmon until her nose touched his.  "So, what're you thinking about?" she asked with a cute smile on her face.

      Impmon's eyes bugged out, then trailed downward before drifting back up.  In that exact instant, one of two things happened.  The bust won and he decided that maybe he didn't want to move quite so much as he thought he did.

      Impmon blinked slowly, his mouth dry.  "... Um..."

      "Hmm?" Sera smiled.

      Suddenly the front door to the cabin opened.

      "Knock, knock!" a high-pitched voice giggled.

      Sera started and quickly turned towards the person in the doorway.  Impmon turned, then stared as his pupils shrank and blood dribbled down his nose.

      Standing at the entrance of the cabin was a voluptuous woman with even bigger breasts than Sera.

      Impmon simply stared in shock.

      The woman had blue eyes and bottle blond hair that had been obviously professionally styled and curled so that it enhanced her face, which had quite a bit of make up highlighting it as well.  She wore a skimpy outfit, one similar to the one Sera wore aside from the cut of it, which revealed much of her cleavage and thighs, and the words on the front being 'Councilor' instead of 'Chaperone'.  The outfit was little more than a bathing suit.

      The woman practically bounced with each step as she entered the cabin, each movement causing her breasts to bounce and sway in alluring movements.

      Impmon stared, eyes following every movement the woman made.

      "Hiiiiiii!" the woman said with a bright smile, showing off her perfect white teeth.  "You must be Sera Mitsukai, right?"  She giggled as if she had said something funny, and then glanced around before looking back at Sera.  "Oh, well of course you must be!  You're the only one here!"

      Sera nodded to the woman, either unaffected by how the older woman looked, or she hid the fact that she was very well.  "Right," she confirmed, sounding a tad irritated.

      The woman giggled and shook Sera's hand vigorously, not noticing the irritation.  "It's a pleasure to have another woman here at camp," she giggled vapidly.  "I hope you'll have a wonderful stay!"  She then bounced in place enthusiastically, like a child, which made her breasts bounce drastically.

      Impmon's eyes followed every 'movement', his cheeks turning a brilliant crimson as he started to feel dizzy.

      "Thanks," Sera muttered.

      "I'm Bambi, one of the head councilors," Bambi giggled as she placed a hand on her large chest.  "If you have any questions, just come to me!"  She bounced in place again, excitedly.  "It's so SUPER you're here!"

      "Uh, thanks?" Sera sweat-dropped.

      Impmon twitched slightly as his eyes glazed.  "..."

      "OOOOOOOOOH!" Bambi suddenly squealed, her eyes widening as she noticed Impmon.  "What a COOOOOOT widdle DOLLY!"

      Sera started, and was unable to do anything but stare as Bambi snatched up Impmon off her lap and held him out in front of her.  "Awwwwww!  It's even got a widdle smiley face on its tummy!"

      Impmon held still, too dumfounded to move.  Seconds later, he found himself gooshed face first against Bambi's bountiful chest.

      "ADORIBLE!" Bambi squealed, smooshing Impmon's face into her cleavage.

      Impmon twitched before his eyes rolled in the back of his head while blood burst from his nose like a geyser.

      "A-ah!  Impmon!" Sera cried out in alarm as she noticed the blood.

      Bambi blinked at Sera blankly, and then blinked again as she noticed blood all over her chest.  She held out Impmon at arm's length and looked disgusted.  "Eeeeeeweeewewww!  A dolly that BLEEDS!?" she asked, horrified.  "How YUCKY!"

      Bambi tossed Impmon away from her as she stuck out her tongue in disgust.  Sera yelped and quickly darted over to catch Impmon before he hit the floor.  Impmon made no response, unconscious and limp in Sera's arms.

      "Yucky, yucky dolly!" Bambi said as she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood of her chest.

      Sera glanced worriedly at Impmon, and then looked at Bambi, angry.  "HEY!  What's the big idea throwing him like that!?" she demanded.  "So what if he bled on you!?  I didn't ask you to pick him up in the first place!"

      Bambi blinked blankly at Sera for a few moments.  She then giggled as if Sera had said something funny.  "You're silly!" Bambi giggled.

      Sera blinked repeatedly at Bambi, confused.

      "Well, I've got to go!  See you at orientation!" Bambi giggled and skipped out of the cabin, bouncing all the way.

      Sera sweat-dropped as she watched Bambi leave, closing the door behind her.

**_*~*_**

      A dry, cold wind fluttered through the circus grounds as it carried bits of newspaper and dust.  The creatures that worked for the circus wandered around, cleaning up and muttering to themselves.

      In the center of the main tent, reclining on a large ball, was Black Tailmon.  She stretched, arching her back with a 'nyar', and twitched her ears.  "Nyaaar," she repeated, yawning before snapping her jaws shut with a clink.  "Rather nice haul this time around."

      A high-pitched giggle issued as Opossomon danced in to view, holding a wide variety of balloons in each paw.  "You bet!" Opossomon beamed happily.  "Pandamon'll be pleased!"

      "If he ever gets back," Black Tailmon purred, rolling on to her back and stretching seductively.  "Nyaaaaar, I wonder if I have time for a cat nap?"

      "He went to check up on that girl?" Opossomon mused.  "What's so important about her?"

      "It wasn't just her," Black Tailmon replied, blinking her gold eyes at him.  "He wanted to see if he could find that Impmon we saw earlier, too.  Remember that one that was so drunk he threw up all over you before he almost got hit by a car?"

      Opossomon glared at her, obviously not wanting to remember.

      Black Tailmon blinked, then smirked at his reaction.  "Oh, you know which one!" she purred.  "Remember?  He wandered up to the circus and you tried to give him a balloon?  He said you were stupid and threw up all over you before he wandered down the sidewalk."

      "..."

      "And then he almost got hit by that big black limo!" Black Tailmon continued, absently poking the ball with her paw.  "And then he threw up all over that blonde guy who stepped out to see if he was all right!"

      "I remember him," Opossomon snarled, eyes narrowed.  "He's not that cute."

      "Cuter than you," Black Tailmon purred.

      "He is not!" Opossomon hissed, eyes narrowed as the balloons seemed to scowl with him.

      "Nyaaaaaar."  Black Tailmon simply smiled.

      "He isn't!  Nothing's as cute as me!" Opossomon spat.  "Not even Sheepmon!"

      As if on cue, a loud explosion issued, followed by a "Baaaa~" as a charred looking Sheepmon flew through the air.

      Black Tailmon and Opossomon seemed oblivious to Sheepmon as they looked at each other.

      "Nyar."

      Suddenly, a foul odor filled the tent.  Black Tailmon bristled, eyes widening, as Opossomon looked around for the source.  The two paused, then turned to stare at the opening to the tent.

      Pandamon glowered at them, covered in muck and junk, as his red scarf dragged behind him.  He trounced in to the tent, slouched, as he muttered quietly to himself.

       Black Tailmon stared in horror and covered her nose with her paws as Opossomon tilted his head.

      "Bad day, boss?" Opossomon asked.

      "You stink," Black Tailmon gagged.

      Pandamon simply slunk past, muttering, before he paused by a large purple crystal that was originally hidden in the shadows and hit his head against it.

      "... Ow."

      Opossomon tilted his head to the opposite side.  "Really bad day," he commented sagely.

      "He still stinks!" Black Tailmon grunted.  Opossomon nodded.

      Pandamon ignored them as he continued to bang his forehead against the crystal, quietly.

      "Should we stop him?" Opossomon asked, glancing at Black Tailmon.

      "Naw, that one's empty," Black Tailmon replied.

      "Okay."

      "I felt it..."

      Black Tailmon blinked and glanced at Pandamon, who sighed and slumped against the crystal.

      "I was so sure...  I had to see!" Pandamon muttered.

      "Sure?" Black Tailmon ventured, then gagged and covered her nose again.  "BLEUGH!"

      "Sure?" Opossomon echoed.

      "I saw..." Pandamon shook his head.  "But I lost it...  I couldn't hold on...  Out of my reach..."

      Black Tailmon blinked slowly, paws firmly over her nose, and lashed her tail.

      "Lost a balloon?" Opossomon asked cutely.

      "Constipation?" Black Tailmon added.

      Pandamon paused and looked at the two of them, piercingly.

      "Maybe not," Black Tailmon shrugged.  Opossomon gave Pandamon a cute and innocent look.

      Pandamon glared, then sighed wearily.

      "Shut up and get back to work," Pandamon grunted.

      Black Tailmon blinked as Pandamon headed for the back of the tent.  "Where are you going?" she asked.  Pandamon paused, then glanced over his shoulder.

      "... To take a shower."


	7. Hormone Overdose

Authors' Notes:  It's us again with another chapter!  By know we're sure you know that Sera, Tsuyosa, Bambi, and all other characters added in are ours and you shouldn't steal them or you'll be in big trouble.  Tamers doesn't belong to us sadly, but we got plans to change that!  ... But then again you already know that by now too ;P

Beware!  This chapter really earns this story's PG-13 rating!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 7: Hormone Overdose_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      The sound of an obnoxiously loud whistle pierced through the din of countless children talking at once.

      Takato looked up slightly and blinked.  By him, Hirokazu didn't seem to notice the whistle as he continued to talk to Kenta in a rather loud tone.  Jenrya winced at the sound as he looked up as well.  Ruki ignored them, her eyes piercing as she looked for the source of the whistle.  Juri immediately ceased in her conversation with one of her female friends, and turned to look for the source of the whistle as well.

      The source, in fact, was Bambi.

      Another loud whistle pierced the air, silencing more of the children, and drawing attention to the big-busted woman.

      "Hello and welcome to Camp Crystal Lake!" Bambi crooned, bouncing excitedly.  Many of the older male children instantly got nosebleeds from the sight of Bambi bouncing.

      "Boob job," Ruki grunted, quietly.  Juri and her puppet nodded in agreement, grimacing slightly.  Takato and Jenrya sweat-dropped at the sight, and tried not to blush too much.

      "It's so wonderful to see you!" Bambi continued as she turned to look at everyone, jiggling with every movement.  "So many new faces!"

      "... Shameless, too," Ruki grunted.

      Juri and her puppet nodded vigorously.

      "Oh!  But there are some faces I recognize!" Bambi squealed as she looked at the far corner, then pointed at the children in the navy and gold uniforms.  "Kaishin Academy!  How wonderful to see you all again!"

      "... How can she even WALK like that?" Juri muttered to Ruki.

      "Unbelievable," Ruki grunted.

      "I hope you'll be on your extra best behavior, not that you aren't perfect gentlemen and ladies anyway!" Bambi squealed, happily.  The older boys blushed violently as the girls all muttered irritably at Bambi's display.

      Tsuyosa sat in the far back, slouching in embarrassment as he blushed.

      "WELL!  I bet you're all SUPER excited to see all the SUPER stuff our camp has to offer!" Bambi squealed, bouncing in place excitedly.  "But first, we have to assign cabins!"

      "Joy," Ruki grunted.  "They look like they're going to fall off."

      "... Yip!  Or pop!" Juri's puppet barked.

      "As you Kaishin Academy students are so well behaved, the administration decided that the best thing to do is to split you up and mingle you with the other students!  To set a good example as well as to act as guides, since you know everything already!" Bambi continued as she leaned down to wiggle her pointer finger with authority.

      Jenrya blinked and glanced at Takato, whose expression was less than thrilled.  "What's wrong?" he whispered.

      "We're getting Tengoku," Takato grunted.

      "How do you know?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "... Trust me.  We're getting Tengoku," Takato sighed.  "I think my luck's playing a bad joke on me."

      "Now since there's WAAAAAAAAAAAY too many of you here for me to call of names, I'm going to paste the cabin arrangements on our handy little announcement board WAAAAY over there!" Bambi pointed, bending over slightly as she did so, and flashing her cleavage to all the children.

      Hirokazu blinked and looked up, then proceeded to gush blood from his nose.  "... WHOA."

      Kenta glanced over at Bambi, and his glasses instantly fogged over as his cheeks turned red.  "... You said it...," he muttered.

      "Noooow!  If any of you has any questions or problems, just come talk to little ole MEEEE or one of our lovely volunteer chaperones over here!" Bambi squealed excitedly as she flashed the children again while pointing at a group of teenagers in camp uniforms.

      All but one of the teenagers were male, and looking mildly pleased with both their status and the fact that they were so close to Bambi.  The one female teenager, Sera, was leaning against a tree and shaking her head at Bambi's gross display of sexual innuendo.

      "SO!  The board is OVER THERE!" Bambi pointed, jiggling and giggling.  "... So go look up your cabin and meet your roommates!  I'm sure you'll be the best of friends!"

      No one moved.

      "... You can go now!" Bambi giggled.

      Ruki stood up with a sigh and stormed over to the announcement board, ignoring the vast amounts of stupefied children.  Juri followed Ruki a moment later.

      Slowly more and more children got up to go check their bunking assignments.  All of those that went were female.

      Ruki peered at the board, searching for her name, then blinked.  She grabbed the paper and ripped it off, then proceeded back to her table, holding it.

      "Umm... Ruki, I don't think we're supposed to take those down," Juri pointed out.

      "It's all of our names, so it doesn't matter," Ruki snorted as she sat down.  "Looks like the cabins are split in two.  Girls on one side, boys on the other."  She put the paper down and pointed at it.  "We're grouped together.  We can probably thank your teacher for that."

      "Oh, well that's great!" Juri said enthusiastically.  She made her puppet speak as she sat down.  "Rowf!  We won't be split up!  Arf!"

      "... Tengoku's the student from Kaishin Academy who's going to bunk with us," Takato stated without even looking at the paper.

      "Oh, and Takato?" Ruki looked at Takato.  "You're right."

      Takato nodded grudgingly.  "I knew it," he muttered.

      Ruki pointed at the bottom of the list, where Tsuyosa's name was drawn in with red ink followed by several small hearts; Bambi's work, no doubt.

      Jenrya sweat-dropped as he eyed the small hearts.  "... Bambi seems to be an... interesting... councilor," he said slowly.

      Kenta and Hirokazu would have joined in on the conversation if not for the fact that they couldn't stop staring at Bambi.

      Takato looked skyward and muttered to himself.  "... Either Tengoku's stalking me, or I've got the worst luck lately..."

      A small sneeze issued from the Kaishin Academy tables, where Tsuyosa proceeded to rub his nose.

      Juri glanced at Takato, and then tilted her head to look at Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa sat at the end of the bench, staring at his backpack quietly.  He looked so lonely and out of place that Juri felt her stomach clench.

      Juri noticed that Sera saw Tsuyosa as well, an expression of concern on the older girl's face.  Juri paused, then set her jaw and stood up.

      Juri strode away from the other Tamers, her expression determined, as she headed towards Tsuyosa's table.  Tsuyosa didn't notice her as she stopped behind him.  Juri looked at him, then smiled and held up her puppet.

      "Arf, arf!"

      Tsuyosa nearly jumped out of his skin with a squeak, then turned to stare at Juri.

      "U-um." Tsuyosa stared, blinking slowly.

      "Hi!" Juri smiled.  "It looks like you're paired up with us!"

      "I... figured," Tsuyosa murmured.  He yelped when the puppet zoomed in to his face.

      "Let's be friends!  BOW WOW!" the puppet barked.

      "A-ah..."  Tsuyosa had no idea how to respond to that.

      "My name's Juri," Juri smiled.

      "T-Tsuyosa."  Tsuyosa stared at the puppet, expecting it to bark at him again.

      Which it did.

      "BARK!  Hello, Tsuyosa!" the puppet snapped its cloth mouth open and shut.  "Why don't you go sit over with us, rowlf?"

      "... I'm not welcome, I'd think," Tsuyosa replied, quietly.

      "Don't be silly!" Juri smiled.  "C'mon!"

      "Well, I-!"

      "Rwoorrww!  C'mon!" the puppet repeated, looping around Tsuyosa's arm and yanking him upwards.

      "But... I..."

      "Rooowrrr!  CHAAARGE THIS WAAAY!"

**_*~*_**

      Impmon grunted as consciousness slowly took hold once more.  He paused, his nose feeling slightly sore, and opened his eyes.

      Impmon's claws wandered up to feel his nose as he sat up with a grunt.

      "Uuugh..."

      Impmon slowly looked up, then tensed as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

      Standing next to the bed, facing away from him, was Sera, wearing only her underwear.

      Impmon's cheek twitched as his eyes wandered up and down her body, unable to look away.  "..."

      Sera hummed to herself, apparently oblivious to Impmon being awake, as she removed her bra and exposed her bare chest to him unknowingly.  After setting her discarded bra onto the table, she then bent over and removed her panties as well.

      Impmon's eyes doubled in size as his ears stuck straight up.  Seconds later, he tilted his head back and squeaked as blood burst from his nose.  He twitched twice before his eyes rolled in to the back of his head and unconsciousness took him once more.

**_*~*_**

      The sounds of laughter filled the air as children of all ages ran around a massive lake, playing in the beautiful water.  The camp earned its name from said water, which was surprisingly clear and pure.

      A large raft-like structure sat in the middle of the lake, acting as both a platform for diving and a haven for those who swam out too far and needed to rest.

      "It's so pretty!" Juri whispered as she gazed around the large lake, wearing a nice one-piece green bathing suit.

      "Yeah, well, it's okay," Ruki snorted, wearing a similar bathing suit, save yellow with a heart symbol on her chest.

      "CANNONBALL!"

      Ruki and Juri looked up just in time for Hirokazu to charge past and leap in to the water, spraying everyone around him with his wake.

      Jenrya chuckled quietly as he sat on the shore, dangling his feet in to the water from a safe distance.

      Kenta looked nervously at the water as he slowly approached it, his eyes squinting, as he struggled to see without his glasses.

      Takato sat next to Jenrya, silently brooding, as he idly kicked the water with his feet.

      "Hey!  Tsuyosa!  Why don't you come in?" Hirokazu called, waving his arms at the other boy.  Tsuyosa looked up, blinking, as he sat away from the others, wrapped in a towel.

      "You just want to dunk him," Ruki snorted.

      "I do not," Hirokazu lied, and it was very obvious.

      "Hirokazu...," Juri said in a warning tone as she crossed her arms.

      "No thank you," Tsuyosa replied, very quietly.  "I don't want to swim."

      "Darn.  Later then, okay?" Hirokazu beamed, smiling innocently at Juri.  "What?  Just being friendly!"

      "Make sure it STAYS friendly," Juri said firmly.

      Hirokazu simply smiled at her, cheerfully.

      Tsuyosa looked at Hirokazu, then snuggled under the towel and returned to staring at the ground.

      One of the chaperones, a cute boy with somewhat long brown hair and brown eyes, grabbed Tsuyosa from behind in an overly friendly hug.  He was a bit punkish with his hair being dyed red at the tips, him wearing earrings, a nose ring, a navel ring, and having a tattoo of a red heart with the word "Sera" stylishly emblazed onto his arm.  "Hey, buddy!" he said happily.

      Tsuyosa squeaked, surprised, and nearly fell forward.

      "Who're the cute girls!?" the teenaged boy asked enthusiastically.  "Introduce me!"

      Tsuyosa paused and looked at the boy.  "Who're you again?" he asked, levelly.

      "I'm Akkenai Chikan!" the chaperone said.  "So, tell me their names?"

      "Oh, it's you." Tsuyosa's expression grew exasperated.  "The stalker."

      "I'm not a stalker," Akkenai said, offended.  "I just like girls!"

      "... Or anything that's mildly attractive."  Tsuyosa's cheek twitched.

      "I prefer to think of myself as open-minded," Akkenai pointed out.

      Tsuyosa grunted and shifted to move, then yelped as the towel slipped from his shoulders.

      Akkenai eyed Tsuyosa, and then smirked.  "And you're looking mildly attractive yourself, today," he crooned as he put his hands on Tsuyosa's bared shoulders.

      Tsuyosa squeaked and blushed, trying to move away from Akkenai.  "H-hey..."

      "You're too tense, Tsuuuuuyoooosaaaa," Akkenai crooned, his hands moving across Tsuyosa's shoulders in a seductive manner.

      "Um..."  Tsuyosa tried to scoot away from Akkenai, nervously.  "D-don't you have a volleyball game or something?"

      As if on cue, a volleyball came hurtling out of nowhere and bashed into Akkenai's skull, knocking the perverted teenager away from Tsuyosa.

      Akkenai yowled as he fell over, and then held his head painfully.

      "Oops," came Sera's voice, laced with sarcasm, as she walked over to the two.  She wore a lovely lavender one-piece bathing suit with a skirt trim, which hid her hips from view.

      Tsuyosa blinked and looked up, then sighed with relief.

      Akkenai grimaced and glared up at Sera, until he realized who had hit him with the volleyball.  "Sera," he crooned, a dreamy look in his eyes.  He got up and lunged at Sera, aiming to catch her in an overly enthusiastic glomp, but was thwarted as her fist impacted with his face.

      "Back off, pervert," Sera snapped, glaring at Akkenai.

      Akkenai yowled and fell back a couple steps, rubbing his reddened face.  "Oww...," he whined.

      Tsuyosa blinked, then giggled quietly.

      "It's an adult mood, huh?" Juri whispered quietly, having watched the entire situation but not said anything.

      "No, I think it's just that Tengoku's right.  He's a stalker," Ruki replied.

      Sera looked down at Tsuyosa and smiled.  "You okay now?" she asked him.  "Did he molest you?"

      "U-um...," Tsuyosa stared, embarrassed by the question.

      "It's okay," Sera said as she noticed Tsuyosa's embarrassment.  "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

      "I... I'm okay...," Tsuyosa muttered, shyly.  "Thank you."

      "You're welcome," Sera said, smiling.  She then turned to glare at Akkenai, who was shaking his head a bit after recovering from the punch.  "I'd better not see you try to molest him or anyone else again, pervert."

      "Aw, Tsuyosa doesn't mind!" Akkenai pouted at Sera.  "It's not like he gets much attention from anyone anyway!"

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he tensed.

      "His dad doesn't participate in any of the academy's family events, ya know," Akkenai continued.  "I bet his old man doesn't even remember he exists!"  He pointed at Tsuyosa for emphasis.  "He should be happy to have someone even look at him more than once."

      Tsuyosa's face flushed with humiliation as his eyes widened, filled with horror and pain while close to tears.

      Sera glared at Akkenai and grabbed the nearest blunt object, which happened to be the oar of an unused rowboat.  She then proceeded to hit him over the head with it, hard.  "Where do you get off saying something like that!?" she snapped.

      Akkenai yowled loudly in pain and held his head, which sported a large new lump.  "H-HEY!  HEY!  What're you going after me for!?" he yowled.  "It's not my fault his dad doesn't love him!"

      Tsuyosa looked as if he had just been hit in the face, except it was twice as painful.

      Sera glared even more angrily at Akkenai.  "Bastard," she hissed as she hit him again with the oar.  This time it was hard enough to break the handle and send Akkenai sprawling to the ground, out cold.

      Tsuyosa slowly turned to stare at the other children; he knew they were present and he knew they had heard everything.

      Juri had been staring at shock at the insults Akkenai threw at Tsuyosa unthinkingly, and at Sera's violence.  Her gaze then became one of pity as Tsuyosa looked in her direction.  Ruki stared, her eyes wide with surprise without its usual look of disdain.  Kenta squinted at the scene, but he unmistakably knew what was going on.  Hirokazu stared, completely lacking his normal brash and often harsh attitude.  Jenrya shook his head in disbelief, horrified that a teenager would act that way.  Slowly, he tore his disdainful gaze from Akkenai and glanced at Tsuyosa with concern.  Takato just stared blankly at Tsuyosa, too confused by the situation and by his feelings about Tengoku for him to react in any other way.

      Tsuyosa stared at them, his expression shifting from pain to utter agony.  He fumbled up and grabbed his towel, before slinging it over his shoulders and running as fast as he could away from everyone.

**_*~*_**

      Pandamon sighed longingly.

      "1,398."

      Black Tailmon sauntered into the dark, walking among many large purple crystals.  Her ears perked as she heard a heavy sigh.

      "1,399."

      Black Tailmon padded deeper into the dark and saw Pandamon leaning against one of the purple crystals, and sighing heavily.  Opossomon floated from his balloons nearby, watching Pandamon.

      "1,400," Opossomon said cheerfully.

      "Nya... He's still depressed?" Black Tailmon asked Opossomon.

      Pandamon sighed again, as if in answer to her question.

      "Yep!" Opossomon nodded.  "1,401!"

      "What's wrong with you, nyar?" Black Tailmon sighed.  She paused and looked at Opossomon.  "And you, for that matter."

      "Just passing the time counting how many times Pandamon sighs," Opossomon answered as if it were obvious.  "The count's up to 1,401 sighs now."  Pandamon then sighed again.  "Make that 1,402!"

      "Boss, knock it off." Black Tailmon growled.  "What's wrong?  We have almost every kid in the city but here you are sighing like a lovesick Rookie!"

      Black Tailmon lashed her tail, claws on her hips, and glowered as Pandamon ignored her.  He merely sighed again as he stared off into the darkness.

      "1,403," Opossomon chirped, smiling cutely at Black Tailmon.

      "... I see."  Black Tailmon wrinkled her nose and walked over.  "Okay, boss.  What's wrong?"

      Pandamon sighed.

      "1,404!"

      "STOP THAT!" Black Tailmon yowled.

      "I saw him..."

      Black Tailmon blinked and looked at Pandamon.

      "Him?" Black Tailmon repeated.

      "Him," Pandamon sighed.

      "1,405!"

      "Dare I ask who 'him' is?" Black Tailmon inquired, trying to ignore Opossomon.

      "... He looked so vulnerable... lonely... needing...," Pandamon sighed.  "So innocent... and yet so troubled...  I could tell in his beautiful eyes..."

      "1,406!"

      Black Tailmon twitched, then whirled and unsheathed her claws.  With a 'nyar', she slashed the balloons and shredded every single one with a quick flurry of swipes.

      Opossomon yelped cutely as he was left suspended in the air for a split-second before he fell to the floor with a squeaking thunk.  He glared at Black Tailmon and pouted.  "Meanie!" he yowled.

      Black Tailmon glowered at Opossomon, then turned to Pandamon.  "You sound smitten," she pointed out.

      Opossomon sniffled as he looked at his fallen balloons.  "My balloons...," he whined mournfully.  Tears shown in his eyes before, with a high-pitched whine, he began to cry fountains of tears.

      Black Tailmon snorted and stuck her tongue out at him.

      "Maybe I am...," Pandamon sighed, mournfully.

      "Correction," Black Tailmon snorted.  "You sound like Sheepmon."

      As if on cue, a loud explosion issued as a pitiful "Baaa~!" echoed while Sheepmon flew through the air, looking rather charred.

      None of them seemed to notice.

      Instantly Opossomon brightened up for no apparent reason.  With a flourish, he removed his hat, and then proceeded to pull out dozens of inflated balloons from inside it.  "... 1,407, by the way," Opossomon pointed out.  With a happy cry he hopped into the air and resumed floating around Pandamon and Black Tailmon by his balloons.

      Black Tailmon twitched slightly.

      Opossomon grinned at Black Tailmon, his face matching the ones on his balloons perfectly, and razzed her.

      "I found the one... and I lost him...  I lost him!" Pandamon moaned, devastated.

      "... Oh, is that all?" Black Tailmon blinked.  "You saw a human you wanted?"

      "It wasn't just ANY human...," Pandamon sighed.  "It was THE human...  MY human..."

      "1,408!"

      "If that's what's bothering you...," Black Tailmon glanced at Opossomon, poisonously.  "Why don't I just go get him?"

      "... Go... get him?" Pandamon paused, as if the thought were foreign to him.

      "Aww...  Does this mean the record only goes up to 1,408?" Opossomon whined, disappointed.

      "Yeah, boss.  'Go get him'.  YOU know, the very thing I've been doing to every other kid in this city?" Black Tailmon regarded Pandamon, oddly.  "Did you forget?"

      "Go get him...," Pandamon repeated, the idea slowly sinking in.

      "... Yes," Black Tailmon eyed Pandamon.  "... REMEMBER?"

      "..."  Pandamon nodded slowly.  "... You can find him?" he asked hopefully.

      "... Of course I can find him!" Black Tailmon thundered.  "What's wrong with you!?  It's like you've completely forgotten what I've been doing this entire time!"

      Pandamon suddenly grabbed Black Tailmon by her shoulders franticly.  "FIND HIM THEN!" he yelled.  "GET HIM!  GET HIM!  I WANT HIM NOW!"

      Black Tailmon blinked repeatedly, taken back by the sudden mood swing.

      "Wow, the boss must REALLY like that kid," Opossomon blinked.

      "No kidding...," Black Tailmon blinked.

      "GO NOW!  GET HIM!" Pandamon ordered.

      "Um... right... okay...," Black Tailmon nodded.  "Sure!  Whatever you say!"

      Pandamon let go of Black Tailmon and sighed dreamily, his brown eyes shimmering with hope.  "I'll have HIM," he sighed happily.

      "1,410!" Opossomon cheered.

      "... Shut up and let's go, Opossomon," Black Tailmon glowered.  "I'll need your help getting him back."

      Opossomon blinked, and then pouted.  "Aww...  Do I have to?" he whined.  "I wanna see if he can go up to 5,000 sighs!"

      Black Tailmon looked at Opossomon.  "If you come, I'll be able to get him BACK that much sooner," she said in a singsong voice, loud enough for Pandamon to hear.

      Pandamon perked up, his ears twitching.  Instantly he snatched Opossomon from midair and shook him vigorously.  "YES!" he yelled.  "YOU GO!  GO NOW!  GO WITH HER!  GET HIM!"

      Black Tailmon beamed.

      Opossomon squeaked and flailed, trying to get away from Pandamon.  "R-right!  Leggo!" he yelped.  "My balloons are gonna pop!"

      "Let's go, Opossomon." Black Tailmon said, smugly.

      "Right," Opossomon grumbled once Pandamon let him go.  He shot a dirty glare at Black Tailmon.  "That was dirty."

      "Heh, heh," Black Tailmon purred, then paused and looked at Pandamon.  "Um... what does he LOOK like?"

      "Look like?" Pandamon blinked at Black Tailmon.  He then sighed dreamily as he fondly remembered the human of his dreams.  "He had beautiful chocolate hair... deep and dark, yet ruffled...  Lovely pale blue eyes, like twin gemstones... so pale and delicate that you naturally want to protect him from everything..."

      "1,411!" Opossomon cheered.

      Black Tailmon hummed as she tapped her chin with a claw.  "I think I remember seeing that human yesterday...," she muttered to herself.

      "I remember him too!" Opossomon chirped.  "I gave him balloons!  Silver and black!  Such unusual colors."

      "Like me!" Pandamon squealed, happily.  "My colors!  It's DESTINY!"

      "... Uh... right," Black Tailmon stared.  She would have pointed out Pandamon was really black and white instead of black and silver, but she didn't want to risk another mood swing.

      "I've got something toooo," Opossomon crooned.  "I saw him run, so I followed with my balloons.  That goggle boy was so MEAN to him!"

      "The injustice...," Pandamon hissed.  "I'll destroy that goggle boy!"  

      "He fell, and got all sick!  It was tragic!" Opossomon said, horrified.  "There was even blood!"

      "Oh, if only I had been there!" Pandamon sobbed.

      "But when he fell, he left something behind," Opossomon said with a bright smile.  He waved his paws around in a mystic manner, and then leaned over to Black Tailmon.  He then apparently pulled out a small black and silver sneaker from inside one of her ears.  "I hid it Black Tailmon's giant ear!"

      "Huh?" Black Tailmon stared.

      Opossomon smirked proudly at her, and presented the shoe to Pandamon.  Black Tailmon quickly felt the inside of her ear, dumbfounded.

      Pandamon stared at the sneaker with an almost holy reverence.  Quickly, he snatched the piece of footwear and hugged it closely to himself.  "His shoe... HIS shoe!" he sighed.

      "1,412!" Opossomon cried out, excitedly.

      "... Right.  A shoe.  A smelly shoe." Black Tailmon grunted.  "Well, at least I have his scent now... it'll make things even easier.  Let's go, Opossomon... and leave the boss to cuddle his shoe."

      "Aww... okay," Opossomon whined.  "But now I'll NEVER know if he reaches 5,000 or not!"

      "Would you rather stay and see him do things to that shoe?" Black Tailmon asked.

      "..."

      Opossomon instantly bolted from the tent, nearly knocking down Black Tailmon in his haste.

      "Come on, come on, no time to waste!" he called back to her.

      Black Tailmon yelped, then blinked and darted after him.

      "Nyaaar!"


	8. Night Before the Carnival

Authors' Notes: Yes, yes, I know I'm being repetitive, but I just gotta say it; Sera, Tsuyosa, all other new characters in this story belong to Neon and me, and only to us.  Don't steal 'em or we'll have to be really mean!  And you don't want us to be mean, do you? 

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 8: Night Before the Carnival_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Yeaaah, this is good stuff!" Hirokazu beamed as he pat his stomach.  He sat in the camp cafeteria, on one of the numerous bench tables.  A huge empty plate rested in front of him, practically licked clean.  "Who'd have thought camp food would taste GOOD?" he sighed, happily.

      Beside him, Kenta poked what looked to be a large burrito in front of him with a fork.  "... I've never had Mexican food before," he muttered.

      "Eat it, it's good!" Hirokazu cackled.  "If you don't want it, I'll take it!"

      "I didn't say I didn't want it," Kenta said defensively.  He swallowed nervously as he eyed the burrito, then carefully started to cut it up into bite-sized pieces.

      Ruki rolled her eyes at the two as she quietly munched on her burrito.  Jenrya ate his burrito as well, glancing at Takato occasionally.  Juri nibbled away at her burrito, looking a little worried about something.

      Takato had yet to touch his food, as he stared out a nearby window instead.  He sighed as his thoughts wandered.

      Suddenly, all sounds of conversation were silenced as a certain camp councilor bounced into the cafeteria.  A few boys started to choke on their food as Bambi bounced in place worriedly as she looked around.

      "Not her...," Ruki muttered.

      "Can I have everyone's attention?" Bambi called out.

      "As if she didn't have it already...," Ruki grunted.

      "Huh?" Hirokazu looked up, and then blinked as his eyes went glazed.  "Ooooh..."  Kenta blinked and his glasses instantly fogged over as he laid his eyes upon the buxom councilor.

      Juri looked up, frowning slightly.  Jenrya glanced at Bambi and tried not to blush too much.

      Takato merely sighed and ignored everything going on around him.

      "Someone didn't report in after swimming at the lake!" Bambi said fearfully.  "Has anyone seen Tsuyosa Tengoku?"  Takato blinked and looked up after hearing the name.  "He's from Kaishin Academy."  She looked around at everyone for a reaction as her breasts swayed about with every movement she made.

      Juri's eyes widened and she glanced around at the others, her eyes wide with concern.

      "He probably ran away," Ruki commented.

      Hirokazu and Kenta didn't even hear the announcement, as they were too busy staring at Bambi.

      Jenrya frowned.  "I can't say I blame him," he muttered.  "That one guy said some pretty hurtful things."

      "Has ANYONE seen him?" Bambi asked worriedly.

      There were some confused looks as some of the children muttered among themselves, but no one spoke up in the affirmative.

      "What should we do?" Juri whispered.

      "Maybe we should go look for him," Jenrya replied.

      "Why?" Ruki snorted.  "He's done nothing but be an ass ever since we met him.  He hates Takato and Guilmon's guts, AND his digimon's attacked them, Hirokazu, and Guardromon, if you recall."

      "... So you don't feel sorry for him?" Juri stared at Ruki.

      "..."  Ruki looked at Juri levelly.  "It's hard to feel sorry for someone who insults and attacks your friends," she commented flatly.

      "Be that as it may, he's still a human being," Jenrya said.

      "I agree," Juri glanced at Jenrya.  "Weren't you the same way, Ruki?"

      "..."  Ruki looked away, unable to think of a retort.

      "... Didn't you try and kill Guilmon when you first met him?" Juri continued.  "I remember someone telling me that."

      Ruki twitched a bit as she remembered that, crossed her arms, and reluctantly nodded.  "Yeah," she muttered, tapping her fingers in agitation against her arm.

      "... So weren't you acting the exact same way Tsuyosa is?" Juri muttered, softly.

      "..."  Ruki didn't reply.

      "Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves," Jenrya said quietly.  He glanced at Takato who was looking out the window again.  "Takato?"

      "Hmm?" Takato blinked at the mention of his name, and turned to look at the others.

      "... Were you even listening?" Jenrya sighed.

      "I guess not...," Takato muttered sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

      "... Well, I don't know about you but I'M going to go look for him!" Juri stood up.  Her puppet snapped its jaws.  "Yip yap!  Me too!  Me too!" 'it' agreed.

      "Okay, Juri," Jenrya nodded.  Ruki grunted, but otherwise didn't reply.

      "I don't suppose YOU'LL help," Juri glanced at Hirokazu and Kenta.

      "Whuh?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "Haaaah?" Kenta muttered incomprehensively, still staring at Bambi as best he could through his fogged up glasses.

      "I think they're out of it," Jenrya commented, not that he begrudged their reactions to a woman who's breasts were nearly as big as her head.

      "And YOU wouldn't care either way, I suppose?" Juri glanced at Takato, angrily.

      Takato looked at Juri, his expression hurt and confused, before he turned away from her, unable to respond to her accusation.

      "... Fine," Juri straightened her shoulders.  "I guess I'll try and find him myself."  Her puppet shook its head.  "Rowrf... we'll do our best!"

      With that, Juri turned and left the cafeteria with a sigh and a 'rowr'.

      "Takato?"

      Takato didn't initially respond to his name being called, and turned after a moment or two of silence.

      "Takato?" Jenrya asked.  "Do you want to talk?"

      Takato hesitated for a moment before nodding reluctantly.  "... Yeah... I guess," he muttered.

      "C'mon..."  Jenrya stood up.  "Let's go somewhere quiet."

      Takato nodded as he stood up as well.

      Jenrya walked out of the cafeteria and headed back to their cabin, which was on the far side of camp nestled upon the trees.  Ruki watched the two boys leave without comment.  Hirokazu and Kenta didn't notice, staring at Bambi.

      When the two boys arrived at their cabin, Jenrya turned around and looked at Takato.  "All right... what's bothering you...?" he asked, quietly.  "Is there anything I can do?"

      "... It's Tengoku," Takato sighed quietly.

      "I had a feeling," Jenrya nodded.

      Takato leaned back against the wall and rubbed his arms as he looked down.  "... I can't stop thinking about him," he confessed.

      "What he said?  Or just him in general?" Jenrya tilted his head.

      "Just him in general..."

      "Mmmm..."  Jenrya looked at Takato, thoughtfully.  "What about him...?"

      "Well...," Takato sighed as he tried to straighten out his chaotic thoughts.  "... I don't know what to think of him anymore."

      "He's very complex," Jenrya agreed.

      "Yeah...," Takato nodded.  "When I first met him, I thought he was such a jerk... but now..."  He trailed off.

      "I see..."  Jenrya leaned his head back.  "I've only seen him once or twice... but there is definitely something about him...  Like there's something that bothers him, but he doesn't want to admit it."

      "... Yeah..."  Takato closed his eyes with a sigh.  "... And I think I know what it is..."

      "Hmmm?"  Jenrya glanced at Takato.  "You do?"

      "Yeah...  Yesterday... after he and Hirokazu fought at the circus... I got angry and chased him down...  I wanted him to stop his Black WarGreymon from trying to kill Guardromon and Guilmon..."

      Jenrya nodded, quietly.

      "After a while of chasing...  He just suddenly collapsed, and started coughing up blood."  Takato looked at Jenrya franticly.  "He looked like he was dying!"  He then looked down guiltily.  "And my chasing him made him that way..."

      "... I see...," Jenrya muttered, thoughtfully.

      "... He's sick," Takato mumbled.  "... His bag is filled with of tons of pills..."

      "... And you saw them..."  Jenrya tapped his chin.  "That must not have gone over well."

      Takato nodded, solemn.  "... He also said... after he took some medicine to stop the bleeding... that I looked at him like his mother did... like he wasn't even human...  He practically begged me to hit him..."

      "... I see..."  Jenrya's expression darkened.  "That might be it right there..."

      "Yeah..."  Takato looked up at Jenrya, utterly confused.  "But what I don't get is why he hates me so much...  I mean..."  He trailed off, making a vague gesture with his hands as he tried to explain his thoughts.  "... He seems so lonely... I'd think he'd want to be friends...  Not trying to pick fights... and try to make me hate him..."

      "I think I'm beginning to see why," Jenrya muttered.  "It's so obvious."

      Takato blinked at Jenrya, stunned.  "Well, would you mind cluing me in?" he asked, sounding more than a little frustrated.

      Jenrya looked at Takato, and then leaned forward.  "You're healthy.  Not only that, you're happy.  You have friends... and, if anything of what that boy said today was true, a family."

      Takato stared at Jenrya.

      "He hates you because you can do anything you want.  You can run, play, or even swim."  Jenrya shook his head.  "He can't."

      "..."  Jenrya's words rang true to Takato as things started to make sense about Tsuyosa.  Takato opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out.

      Jenrya turned and stared at the sky.  "He must have seen you before... and you basically have everything he doesn't.  Sure, his dad's rich... but he doesn't even get to see him much, if at all.  You see your parents every day and take them for granted."  Jenrya looked at Takato.  "I should think the only person who spends time with him is his digimon."

      "... I had no idea...," Takato whispered.

      "He's not jealous of you and Guilmon...  Guilmon's just an innocent bystander."  Jenrya tilted his head.  "It's all you."

      Takato stared at Jenrya in speechless silence for a few moments as the information slowly sunk in.

      Jenrya looked at Takato, solemnly, before he stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the sky again.  "He must be very bitter."

      Jenrya sighed.  "And very lonely," he added.

      "... ... What am I supposed to do...?" Takato asked, feeling helpless.

      "I don't know."  Jenrya looked at Takato.  "But you know something about him that I think he doesn't want anyone to know.  Especially not you."

      "..."

      Jenrya paused, and then shook his head.  "He most likely feels extremely vulnerable now.  Exposed, maybe?"

      Takato nodded slowly.

      "I don't know what to tell you."  Jenrya shook his head.  "And the fact that he's missing bothers me, as well."

      Takato nodded again, his expression solemn.  "Yeah... me too..."  He looked at Jenrya gratefully.  "Thanks for your help, Jen."

      "Sure."  Jenrya smiled.  "I hope I helped?"

      "Yeah."  Takato nodded, smiling back slightly at Jenrya.  "You helped a lot.  Thanks."

      "Good."  Jenrya smiled even wider.

      Takato smiled back as best he could.  While Jenrya did help, there were still things about Tsuyosa that plagued his mind.

      However, those were things Takato had to figure out on his own.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon twitched mildly, then tensed.  As consciousness slowly returned to him once again, he debated the wisdom of actually opening his eyes and attempting to wake up.  He was tired, emotionally and physically.  He was also sick of passing out so much.  Lately, he had been drunk, suffered a severe shock, smashed against a big-busted woman's breasts, and saw a girl naked all in a row.  He wasn't sure he wanted to see what else was in store for him.

      However, curiosity won over and Impmon slowly opened one eye.

      The first thing Impmon noticed was that it was dark, which probably meant that he had slept all the way until night.  The second thing he noticed was that he wasn't the only occupant in the bed anymore.

      Sleeping next to Impmon, with her back to him, was Sera.  She was without her earrings or hair ornaments and was wearing a pair of white pajamas with a purple trim and purple stars printed on it.

      Impmon blinked slowly, then stared.  "..."

      Sera murmured something that couldn't be understood in her sleep as she rolled over towards Impmon.  He squeaked as she suddenly grabbed him and started to cuddle him against her chest like a stuffed animal.

      Impmon didn't dare move; unsure of whether being cuddled by Sera was a good thing or a bad thing.  Normally, he would have kicked and screamed violently against such treatment but for some reason it wasn't his gut reaction anymore.

      Impmon debated whether or not he should try and sneak away.  He glanced out the window and paled.  He could see lightning and hear thunder through the mostly closed curtains, flashing through the night as rain fell in torrents.

      Impmon stared out the window, then at Sera.  He found himself forced to choose between cold and wet to warm but snuggled.

      The decision took three seconds to make.

      Impmon grinned slyly and curled up, trying to get comfortable and fall back to sleep.

      Sera smiled sweetly in her sleep, and snuggled closer to Impmon, inadvertently pillowing his head with her soft chest.

      Impmon paused, then smiled sheepishly before he made himself comfortable and sighed.

      Impmon listened to the rain as it pattered against the window.  He unconsciously found himself thinking about what happened earlier; at least, before the whole camp issue.

      Was this girl really his Tamer?

      Impmon blinked slowly, then wrinkled his nose.

      Should he really put himself at the mercy of another human?  Especially one he didn't even know?  She seemed nice; but could he really be sure?

      Impmon closed his eyes, sighing.

      At least she wasn't like Ai and Makoto.  She hadn't hurt him yet; if she had, he wouldn't have even considered being so close to her.

      Impmon found himself slowly drifting to sleep as the rain pattered, literally dulling his senses.  Just as he felt himself begin to drift asleep, he found himself wondering, however briefly, how Ai and Makoto were doing.

      And if their puppy was still around.

**_*~*_**

      Takato couldn't sleep.

      Before the storm had came, Juri returned from her search for Tsuyosa, only to report sadly that she hadn't found him.  Reluctantly they all agreed that there was nothing that could be done with it getting dark out, and the thunderstorm hitting.  Even if they had, the councilors and chaperones wouldn't have let them go anyway.

      Takato had hoped that Juri would have been able to find Tsuyosa so that he could be able to talk to the other boy, and try to make peace between the two of them.

      Now, while everyone else slept, Takato lay awake in his bed, occasionally glancing at the bed that had been assigned to Tsuyosa.

      All of Tsuyosa's things, including his backpack, lay sprawled in a half-hazard manner on his bed.  Jenrya had pointed out to Takato, before he went to bed, that Tsuyosa wouldn't have been stupid enough to go very far without his pills.  Considering how sick Tsuyosa had gotten after being chased by Takato, it was likely that he had been hiding someplace nearby, and just hid from Juri and chaperones when they came searching for him.

      Bambi had further calmed the Tamers' fears as she declared to everyone that Tsuyosa had simply gone home early.

      However, Takato couldn't believe such a story.

      Why would Tsuyosa leave his backpack?

      Sure, Tsuyosa might have hid someplace nearby like Jenrya guessed, but Takato didn't think so.  He remembered just how bad Tsuyosa looked, and how much trouble had had just trying to open the zipper on his backpack.

      If Tsuyosa had an attack while away from his backpack...

      Takato shivered at the thought and rubbed his arms, as he suddenly felt very cold.

      What if Tsuyosa as somewhere out in the woods, sick, and maybe even dying, because he didn't have his pills?

      The more Takato thought about it, the more worried he became.

      A sudden hush filled the cabin as the rain seemed to pause.  In its place, a humid tension filled the air.

      Takato glanced out the window, his expression unreadable for a brief moment.   With a grunt, he hopped out of his bed and immediately got dressed.

      He was going to find Tsuyosa.

      Quietly, Takato slunk over to Tsuyosa's bed and grabbed his backpack.

      Thankfully, Hirokazu's snoring silenced any creak the floorboards might have made.

      Takato made his way for the cabin door and opened it, before slipping out and shutting it with a quiet click.

      Jenrya opened an eye and looked up, then blinked and rested his head against his pillow before going back to sleep.

**_*~*_**

      A loud sneeze issued through the forest, though the animals were too tired to care.  Tsuyosa trudged along the side of the road, slowly, as he clutched his dripping towel to his body.  He was cold, tired, and wet.

      And to top it all off, he was lost.

      Wearing nothing but his swimsuit and towel, he found himself aimlessly wandering along side the road in hopes that it might actually lead him somewhere, specifically, back to the city.

      Tsuyosa shivered slightly and wiped his soaked bangs away from his forehead.  He was thankful that the rain had stopped, even if it was a brief reprieve.

      Even if he was cold, wet, tired, and lost, he at least had the satisfaction of being alone.

      No one can humiliate you when you're alone.

      Tsuyosa shivered and slumped his shoulders, feeling even more tired than he had only seconds before.  "I just want to go home." he sighed.

      Tsuyosa gasped suddenly as he stubbed his toe, then hopped a few feet before he paused and stared at his feet.  He could barely feel them anymore, save for when he stubbed them or stabbed them.

      "... Maybe a small break wouldn't hurt," he began, then paused and shook his head.  "No... it might start raining again...  I have to make the most of this break now."

      Tsuyosa began walking again, slowly, and watching where he stepped.

      After a few more feet, Tsuyosa squeaked as he stubbed his foot again.

      Tsuyosa had enough.  Slowly, he trudged over towards a stump and sat down on it, examining his feet.  As he sat there, he felt his eyes start to sting.

      "No...," he muttered, quietly.  "No, I'm not going to cry..."

      However, his body didn't seem to care one way or another what he said as tears started to trickle down his cheeks.

      Tsuyosa wiped at them furiously as he looked over his feet, wincing.

      "D-damn..."

      As Tsuyosa tried to will himself to stop, it only seemed to make matters worse.  Tsuyosa continued to try and wipe his eyes dry with his hands, but paused and stared at them when he realized that they were just as wet as the rest of him.  He stared, dumbfounded, at his hands before he burst out crying and buried his face in them.

      "... Tsuyosa?"

      Tsuyosa tensed as he felt his stomach twist in to knots.  "It can't be...," he thought, almost hysterical.

      "Tsuyosa?"

      The voice was closer, and the sound of footsteps squishing through the wet grass ever closer to Tsuyosa came along with it.

      Tsuyosa slowly looked up, not daring to believe that he was hearing correctly.

      Standing before him, about a meter away, was Takato.

      Tsuyosa stared in shock at Takato as his suspicions proved correct.  He didn't know whether to curl up and die or run away.

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato repeated as he walked a bit closer to Tsuyosa, a concerned expression on his face.  Clutched within the goggle-boy's hands tightly was Tsuyosa's backpack.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato blankly, then slowly looked at his backpack.  "Why are you...," he managed to croak out before his voice faltered.

      Takato faltered, uncertain how to answer that question.  "... I... I came to find you...," he said softly.

      "... Why?"

      "..."

      Takato was expecting that question; he couldn't imagine Tsuyosa not asking it.  He still felt apprehensive about giving the answer, however.  He had no idea how the other boy would react to his reason.

      "... I was worried about you," Takato confessed.

      "..."  Tsuyosa stared blankly at him.  "... Why?"

      "... You ran off... without your... backpack," Takato said slowly, and held out the item in question to Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa stared at the backpack, and then slowly took it with trembling hands.

      "... Why... why would you care?" Tsuyosa whispered, in quiet disbelief.  "Even my dad doesn't care...  Why would you care?"

      "... I understand now," Takato answered quietly.

      "... Understand?" Tsuyosa stared at Takato, uncomprehending.

      "I understand why you hate me so much..."

      Tsuyosa simply stared at him, blankly.

      "You hate me... because I'm...  Because I have things you don't..."

      Tsuyosa paled as he started to realize what Takato was saying.  Slowly, he stood up and turned his back to the other boy.  Without saying a word, he continued to walk along the road.

      "Tsuyosa?"

      Takato blinked, confused, and hurried to follow Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa quietly walked along the road, staring at the ground as he held the backpack close.

      Takato followed closely behind Tsuyosa.  "Tsuyosa?" he called again.

      "... What do you want?" Tsuyosa whispered, deathly quiet.

      "..."  Takato was taken back at both the question and the tone.  "I... I want you to come back with me, of course," he said, confused.

      "Why would I want to go back?" Tsuyosa asked as he continued walking.

      "..."

      Takato faltered at the question, unable to come up with an answer right away.

      "There's no reason to go back," Tsuyosa muttered, not waiting for a response.  "No one cares.  My dad probably wouldn't even notice if I never came home."

      "... Of course he cares!" Takato said, unable to fathom the idea of any parent not caring for their child.  "He might not show it, but I'm sure he does."

      "No he doesn't," Tsuyosa replied.

      "Just because that one guy said it doesn't mean it's true," Takato said, remembering the earlier incident involving one of the chaperones and Tsuyosa.

      "He didn't have to say it.  I live with it," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "..."  Takato faltered for a moment, and then suddenly he remembered something.  "... Your dad owns Digital Max, right?" he asked.

      "... Yes...," Tsuyosa replied, quietly.

      "Then, it's obvious why he doesn't spend time with you.  It's because his work keeps him away," Takato pointed out.

      "Something always comes up...,"  Tsuyosa hung his head.  "'I know I missed your birthday but I'll make it up to you by taking you somewhere!  Wait, no, never mind.  Something came up!'  ...  'I promise I'll come to the school tomorrow for the academic awards!  Oh, I'm sorry, something came up'..."

      "..."  Takato didn't know what to say.

      "Something always comes up," Tsuyosa repeated, quietly.  "He probably does it on purpose to hide from me."

      "... I'm sure he doesn't do it on purpose...," Takato whispered.

      "Why not?" Tsuyosa chuckled, humorlessly.  "My mother's hiding from me."

      "..."  Takato went silent, remembering what Tsuyosa had said about his mother the other day.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he stubbed his toe, then paused to wait for the pain to stop.

      Takato started at the yelp and hurried to Tsuyosa's side.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

      "A-ah?" Tsuyosa blinked and looked at Takato, surprised by his concern.  He swallowed and stared down at his feet.  "... Yeah... just stings a little..."

      "You shouldn't be walking around out here without shoes on," Takato shook his head.  "Or without clothes."

      "Why not?" Tsuyosa muttered, closing his eyes.  "It's not like anyone cares.  As far as my mother's concerned, I'm dead.  She took one look at me, then left.  She never came back.  It took my dad weeks to convince the rest of the family that I was still breathing."

      "..."

      "I don't blame her."  Tsuyosa shook his head as he continued walking.  "She didn't want to have to worry about a kid... like me."  Tsuyosa faltered, then closed his eyes as he walked.

      Takato stared at Tsuyosa, stunned at such cruelty that had been inflicted upon the poor boy, by his mother no less.  "... There's no excuse for her doing that!" Takato said in outrage.  "It doesn't matter if you're sick.  You're still her son!"

      "I don't blame her," Tsuyosa repeated.  He paused, and then scowled at the ground.  "Yes, I'm sick.  I'm sick and she just didn't want to deal with me...  So she left me to my dad.  Maybe it would have been better if I had really died during childbirth.  Mom and dad would still be together."

      Takato's eyes widened as he stared at Tsuyosa, slightly numb.

      Tsuyosa continued walking, then squeaked rather loudly as he hit his foot against a rock.  He fumbled and shook his foot, as if trying to shake off the pain, and shivered.  "... Maybe they might have had a normal kid," he whispered.

      "..."  Takato didn't know what to say to help Tsuyosa.  He felt utterly helpless, and more than a little frightened by his words.

      Tsuyosa looked at his foot, then flinched when he saw that he was bleeding.  "... Oh, I really don't need this..."

      Takato looked down at Tsuyosa's injured feet.  They were bruised badly, and had numerous cuts; the most recent one was just the worst of them.  A thought occurred to Takato and he silently took of his own sneakers.  "Here...," he said quietly as he offered his shoes to Tsuyosa, the wet and muddy grass instantly soaking his socks.

      Tsuyosa blinked and looked at Takato, his expression blank.  "W-what?"

      "You need to wear something on your feet.  They're just going to get even more injured, and probably even infected, if you keep walking around without anything."

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato, then turned to stare at the ground.  "Why are you still here?" he muttered.  "When people find out I'm sick, they leave!  Mom left, dad hides... I haven't even met my grandparents.  Why are you still here?"

      "Because I care."

      "Why...?  I don't understand!  Why would you care?" Tsuyosa asked shakily as he started to shiver.  "Why would you care at all!?  You couldn't have forgotten what I said!"

      "I haven't.  I just understand you now."

      "Understand me?" Tsuyosa repeated, disbelieving.

      Takato nodded.

      Tsuyosa stared at Takato for a few minutes, then shivered and closed his eyes.  "I'm cold...," he muttered, absently.

      Takato looked at Tsuyosa, and how he was still wearing nothing but his swim trunks and a soaking wet towel.  The dim moonlight that pierced through the clouds only helped to highlight the moisture that clung to Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa opened his eyes again, and then looked at Takato.  "Go back... your friends will worry."

      "I'm only going back if you go with me," Takato said firmly.

      "... Why would I go back?" Tsuyosa asked, trying to sound firm but ending up sounding confused and doubtful.

      "Because... I... my friends and I... have been worried about you," Takato said quietly.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, slowly absorbing what Takato said, before he shook his head in disbelief.

      "... I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth."

      "... But you know I'm sick," Tsuyosa whispered, as if that were reason enough.

      "It doesn't matter," Takato said as he shook his head.  "You're still a Tamer, like us."

      "... A Tamer..." Tsuyosa repeated, absently.

      "Yeah," Takato nodded.  "You're special, just like the rest of us."

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, his expression confused and uncertain.  "... But..."

      "It doesn't matter if you're sick or the healthiest kid in Japan.  You're still a kid either way."

      Tsuyosa simply stared at Takato, then looked at the ground.  "... Are you... sure?" he muttered, almost hopeful but not daring to let himself believe what was happening.

      "Of course," Takato nodded.

      "... But won't they make fun of me?" Tsuyosa whispered, suddenly sounding highly exposed and vulnerable.  "They heard him..."

      "They won't.  I'll make sure of that."  Takato paused for a moment, and then offered his sneakers to Tsuyosa again.  "Here...  You still need to put something on your feet before they get any worse..."

      Tsuyosa stared at the sneakers, and then shakily took them.  "But what are you..."

      "Don't worry about me," Takato said with a confident smile.  "I've got socks to protect my feet."

      "..."  Tsuyosa stared at the sneakers, then hesitantly knelt down to put them on his feet.  After he finished slipping the sneakers on, he looked up and blinked at Takato.

      "Come on, let's go."  Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa hesitated, then sighed and held his backpack close.  "... Okay..."

      "NYAR!"

      Tsuyosa looked up, alarmed at the sudden noise, just in time to feel a sharp blow to the back of his head.  Tsuyosa yelped out as he fell forward, limp.

      Takato whirled at the noise and at Tsuyosa's yelp, turning just in time to see a black cat catch Tsuyosa and heft him up.

      The cat turned to look at Takato, then wiggled its whiskers.  "Nyar."

      "H-HEY!" Takato cried.  "Let him go!"

      "Hmm, let me think about that...  No," the cat purred, tail lashing as she stepped back.

      "Who are you and what do you want with Tsuyosa!?" Takato demanded as he took a step towards the cat.

      "To protect the world from devastation!" a voice giggled out of the sky.

      The cat paused, then scowled deeply.

      "Don't EVEN go there."

      The strange cat-like creature that had been passing out balloons at the circus the other day floated down from the sky next to the cat.

      "... You're no fun!" the creature pouted.

      Takato quickly pulled out his D-Arc and pushed a button to scan the two, as it was obvious now that they were digimon and not mere circus performers.  "'Black Tailmon, the virus cat digimon'," Takato read aloud from the holographic screen that appeared before him.  "'This Champion level type is infamous for being tramps.  Its attacks are Neko Punch and Neko Kick'."

      "How accurate," the creature giggled at Black Tailmon.

      "Hmmm, it doesn't do me justice, nyar." Black Tailmon swung her hips.  "I'm not that fat."

      Takato sweat-dropped and then pushed the button again to scan the other digimon.  "'Opossomon, a VACCINE type'?" he blinked in confusion.  "'This Champion level Digimon is playful and loves to entertain.  Its attacks are Mad Balloon Bomb and Mystery Orb'."

      "Yup, that's me!" Opossomon chirped.  "Nice picture of me.  Can I have that in 8x10 glossies?"

      "Just look in a mirror, that's scary enough."

      "You're just jealous," Opossomon razzed Black Tailmon.

      "Oh yes.  Everyone wants to be short, fat, and ugly." Black Tailmon purred.  "Nyar."

      "I don't care who or what you are.  Let Tsuyosa go right now!" Takato demanded, interrupting the two digimon.

      "So that's his name?" Black Tailmon observed, looking at the unconscious boy.

      "The boss'll be pleased!" Opossomon chirped.  "Let's get back and see if he reaches 5,000!"

      "... Riiiight," Black Tailmon eyed Opossomon oddly.  "Let's go."

      "You're not taking Tsuyosa anywhere!" Takato yelled as he charged at Black Tailmon quickly and tried to grab Tsuyosa from her.

      Black Tailmon let out a 'nyar' and kicked Takato back, then leapt up and grabbed on to Opossomon's leg.  "UP!" she barked.

      "Maybe they should add 'pushy' to that profile of yours," Opossomon teased as he started to float upwards.

      Takato cried out in pain as he was knocked back, and held his chest as he scrambled to his feet.  "NO!" he cried out.  He desperately lunged to grab Tsuyosa, but missed as they had gone up too far, and fell to the ground again.

      "Bai, bai, nyar!" Black Tailmon stuck her tongue out, cutely.

      "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Opossomon shouted with a cute little wave at Takato.  With that he made the balloons float them up into the air surprisingly quick.

      "Just wait until we get back to the circus!" Black Tailmon glowered.

      "Ooooh... I think my grip is SLIPPING...," Opossomon said dramatically as he let a couple balloons fly free from his paw.

      "DON'T YOU DARE!" Black Tailmon shrieked.

      "Be niiiice," Opossomon giggled insanely.

      "TSUYOSA!" Takato cried, helpless but to watch the digimon fly away with the unconscious boy.


	9. Heroic and Pointless

Authors' Notes: It's been four days, which means a new chapter!  Things will be kicking up a notch now that there's digimon to battle, so I hope this'll satisfy those cravings for fighting out there.  ;P  As always, Sera, Tsuyosa, and all other new characters belong to us (as well as this entire story), so don't steal!  Don't make me get out the waffle maker!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 9: Heroic and Pointless_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "WHERE IS HE!?!!?!"

      ChibiBa leapt from Tamer to Tamer, shaking them violently.  "WHERE IS TSU!?  WHERE IS HE!?!"

      Frantic and hysterical, the little Mega ran around the cabin and lunged at any person he came across.  He leapt from Hirokazu to Kenta, then to Jenrya before he lunged back at Hirokazu and snarled.  "IF YOU DID SOMETHING TO HIM, I'LL EAT YOUR CHILDREN!" he roared.

      "But I don't have any kids!  I AM a kid!" Hirokazu yelped fearfully as he rolled out of his bed to avoid the tiny Mega's lunge.

      "THEN I'LL EAT THEM WHEN YOU HAVE THEM, THEN!" ChibiBa snarled as he chased after.

      Hirokazu yelped and started running quickly.  "I don't intend to have kids!" he yowled.

      "THEN I'LL EAT YOU!" ChibiBa shrieked as he chased after the boy.

      "What's all the noise?" Juri muttered as she walked in through the door that connected the two sides of the cabin.  She blinked up, blurrily.  "What's the screaming about?"

      ChibiBa whirled and jumped in front of Juri, though he didn't latch on to her.  He waved his arms, hysterically.  "Where's Tsu!?  WHERE'S TSU!?" he demanded.  Juri blinked then glanced at Tsuyosa's bed.

      "He never... came back?  The councilors said he went home...," Juri stared.

      "He didn't go home!  Where'd Tsu go!?" ChibiBa whirled and lunged at Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu yelped again and quickly resumed running from the angry Mega.  "I DON'T KNOW, MAN!" he yowled.

      "He didn't go home, Juri.  His clothes are still on his bed," Ruki pointed out, more wide-awake than Juri.

      "TSU'S LOST AND WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES?!" ChibiBa squealed, as if wounded.  "I KNOW YOU DID SOMETHING TO HIM!"  ChibiBa growled as he lunged at Hirokazu's ankle.  "I'LL CHEW YOUR LEGS OFF!"

      "I DIDN'T!" Hirokazu squealed as he dove under one of the beds.

      "LIES!  ALL LIES!" ChibiBa snarled as he jumped on top of the bed and proceeded to try and make it crash down on Hirokazu.  Hirokazu yowled in pain as the mattress smacked into him with each bounce, and tried to get out from under the bouncing bed.

      "Oi, you're noisy."

      "What's going on in here?" Sera asked from the doorway to the cabin.  She was still dressed in her pajamas with her boots as an added accessory as she immediately went to check on the noise instead of getting changed first.

      Impmon peeked out from behind Sera's legs, his expression mocking.  "A Tumble Tamer Slumber Party?" he smirked.

      "What's HE doing here?" Ruki asked aloud.

      "WHERE'S TSU!!?" ChibiBa lunged and grabbed Impmon, shaking him violently.

      "W-w-wha?" Impmon yelped.

      "Notice how ChibiBa ain't grabbin' any of the girls?" Hirokazu asked.

      "... Well, yeah.  You don't grab girls," Kenta replied.

      "Calm down, Black WarGreymon," Sera said, trying to soothe the enraged Mega.  "The councilors all said that Tsuyosa just left for home and forgot his stuff."

      "HE DIDN'T!" ChibiBa roared.  "I think I'd know if Tsu was back home with me or not!  I wouldn't be here if he was!"

      ChibiBa shook Impmon so violently that the digimon's head snapped back and forth.

      "He must still be out in the woods someplace," Jenrya said in a worried tone.

      "IN THE WOODS?!  MOSTLY NAKED!?" ChibiBa dropped Impmon and lunged at Jenrya.  "WHY WOULD HE BE OUT THERE?!!"

      "Stop that!" Sera cried out.  She quickly snatched ChibiBa from midair, preventing him from grabbing Jenrya and shaking him next.  "Shaking Impmon or anyone else won't help Tsu!"

      "I knew it was a bad idea to let him go alone!" ChibiBa all but sobbed.  "I had a bad feeling!  Now he's gone!  He might have been eaten by a bear!"

      "Why are you here?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      "I had a bad feeling that something had happened!" ChibiBa whimpered.  "And it did!  Tsuuuuuuuuuuu!"

      ChibiBa snuffled, then started to violently squirm.  "I'M GOING TO BITE OFF YOUR TOES IF YOU'VE HURT TSU!" he roared, glaring at Hirokazu.  Hirokazu yelped and darted to the opposite end of the cabin, hiding behind Ruki and Juri.

      Sera somehow managed to keep a firm grip on ChibiBa as she hugged him comfortingly.  "There, there, it'll be okay," she said soothingly.  "We'll all get dressed and try to find him, okay?"

      Impmon crossed his arms and scowled, suddenly feeling a pang of jealousy as he saw his Tamer hug another Digimon.  As he realized what he was thinking, Impmon proceeded to slap his cheeks.  "W-What was I thinking?!" he whispered, hoarsely.

      "NO!  We're going NOW!" ChibiBa snarled, though he didn't struggle too much for fear of hurting Sera.  "NOW!  He's NAKED in the woods, lost!  We're finding him NOW!"

      "No, he should be wearing his bathing suit," Juri pointed out.

      "TSUUUUUU!" ChibiBa wailed, like a beaten dog.

      Sera sighed and looked to the other Tamers.  "Grab your stuff and get your shoes on, since I guess we're going now regardless," she commented, still keeping a firm grip on ChibiBa so he wouldn't attack any of the boys.

      Impmon snorted, then glanced over his shoulder and blinked.  "Eh, it's goggle boy!"

      "TAKATO!?" ChibiBa whirled, eyes blazing.

      Everyone turned to see Takato running towards the cabin, a frantic look on his face.  Oddly, he wasn't wearing any shoes, and his socks had become completely soaked with mud.

      ChibiBa squirmed, dead set on lunging at Takato.  "YOU!!"  It was a struggle for Sera to keep a hold on the tiny Mega.

      "S-STOP IT!" Sera yelped as she struggled valiantly to keep a hold on ChibiBa.

      "GUYS!" Takato cried out in-between heavy breaths as he got closer.  "TSUYOSA'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

      "Kidnapped!?  By who?!" Juri gasped, scrambling over.

      "Was it a digimon?" Ruki's eyes narrowed.  "Or a human?"

      "EITHER WAY, THEY'RE DEAD!" ChibiBa bellowed.

      Takato came to a halt at the entrance of the cabin, pausing to catch his breath.  "He was taken by a couple digimon," he panted.  "They took him to the circus!"

      "The circus!?" Hirokazu's eyes widened.  "You mean..."

      "They were real digimon!?" Kenta finished.

      "WHAT DID THEY LOOK LIKE!?!  I'LL FIND THEM AND DICE THEM IN TWO!" ChibiBa struggled, trying to grab Takato.

      Takato nodded vigorously, his breathing slowly returning to normal.  "It was the Opossomon that gave us balloons, and there was a Black Tailmon too," he said.  "She knocked out Tsuyosa, and then they floated away!"

      "... Black Tailmon?" Impmon repeated, absently.

      Sera's eyes widened at the mention of the Black Tailmon, her body tensing and her hold on ChibiBa slacking enough for him to escape.  ChibiBa slipped from her grasp and lunged at Takato, grabbing his shirt.  Takato cried out in surprise and stared at ChibiBa fearfully.

      "WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM!?" ChibiBa hissed.  He then shook his head and jumped down.  "I'M GOING TO KICK THEIR FUZZY BUTTS!"

      "Sera?" Impmon looked up.  "Didn't you say you saw a Black Tailmon in Ai and Mako-chan's room?"  Sera nodded mutely, filled with a cold dread.

      "N-now that you mention it...," Kenta ventured out from his bed.  "I had a dream of a Black Tailmon slinking in to my room yesterday after the carnival... but that it stepped in one of Marine Angemon's, er, accidents and left in disgust!  At least I thought it was a dream..."

      "Dude... you don't suppose...," Hirokazu began, but yelped when ChibiBa tackled him.

      "WHO CARES ABOUT THAT?!" the Mega roared.  "WHAT ABOUT TSU!?"

      "... The circus must be a front for kidnapping kids!" Jenrya cried.

      "That has to be it!" Ruki agreed, glowering.

      "WHO CARES?!" ChibiBa repeated.  "WHAT... ABOUT... TSU!?!"

      "... Ai... Makoto...," Sera whispered in horror, realizing that they must have been two of the Black Tailmon's targets.

      "We have to go save him!" Takato cried.  "And all the other kids they've taken!"

      "But how?!  The city's miles away!" Kenta gulped.  "We can't walk!"

      Sera whirled to look at ChibiBa.  "Can you change into a larger form like in the show?" she asked franticly.

      "Yes, of course!" ChibiBa nodded.  "But what does..."

      "Isn't it obvious?" Ruki snapped.  "You can carry all of us!"

      "... OH!" ChibiBa blinked, then flailed.  "AND WE SAVE TSU!"

      Quickly, he squeezed past Sera and darted outside of the cabin.  A loud hum issued, followed by a bright silver light that illuminated the cabin and the area before dying down.

      "Wha?" Hirokazu darted over and peered out the door.  The rest of the Tamers hurried over to the door to see as well.

      ChibiBa stretched, his full magnificent height, and crouched.  "Whoo, feels good!  I've been cramped too long!"  He turned, eyes sparking angrily as he peered down at them.  "Let's go!  Who knows what they're doing to Tsu!"

      "Eh, neat trick."  Ruki walked out.  "Take us home, first.  So we can get our Digimon.  Then we'll go to the circus!"

      "Will it take long!?" ChibiBa growled, obviously not liking the delay.

      "No," Jenrya replied.

      "... Fine, climb on," ChibiBa snorted as he leaned forward, outstretching his giant claws.

      "You have got to be kidding."  Kenta's glasses fogged up.

      "... NO WAY!" Hirokazu glowered.  "You're insane!"

      ChibiBa glanced at them.

      "Now or I'll eat you like Pez candy."

      "... Okay, let's go!"

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa twitched slightly, moaning.  His entire body ached, particularly the back of his head.  The last thing he remembered was talking to Takato, then a bizarre cat-like sound.

      "Nyar."

      That sounded just like that.

      "We've got a present for ya, boss!"

      "Nyar, I told you I could do it!"

      "U-uuh...?" Tsuyosa cringed, then slowly opened his eyes.

      "MY TAMER!"

      Instantly Tsuyosa found himself being glomped tightly against a large bundle of black and white fur.

      Tsuyosa squeaked in alarm as he blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision, as he was cuddle-crushed against the unknown creature.

      "MY TAMER!  MY PRECIOUS TAMER!"

      "Think the boss is happy?"

      "Nyaar...  If he were any happier, he'd smother that kid."

      "He's not smothering him now?"

      "W-what...?" Tsuyosa whimpered, his head swimming.  His eyes bugged out as he saw a familiar panda's face looking down at him.

      The panda smooshed his nose against Tsuyosa's happily.  "Myyyy peeeeerfeeeeect Taaaameeeer," he crooned.

      Tsuyosa felt his body shiver as his eyes widened in confusion and fear.  "W-where... wh-who..."

      "It's me, Pandamon!" the panda crooned.  "Your partner!"

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as all the color drained from his face.  With a tiny mewl, Tsuyosa's eyes rolled back and he passed out in Pandamon's arms.

      "Nyar, too much for the kid."  Black Tailmon blinked, then shivered.  "... Huh?"

      Pandamon blinked blankly at Tsuyosa before he sighed dreamily.  "He must have been overwhelmed with joy!" he sighed, cuddling the unconscious boy in his arms.

      Opossomon shivered delightfully.  "Yes!  1,414!" he giggled and then paused to tap his chin with a paw.  "Make him do that mewl again!  I liked it!"

      "... You're a pervert, Opossomon," Black Tailmon sniffed, blushing slightly.

      Pandamon glared at Opossomon and whacked him with a large paw.  "My Tamer, my mewls," he said as he clutched Tsuyosa possessively.

      "OW!" Opossomon yelped.  He then eyed Black Tailmon.  "... Oh, and you WEREN'T thinking the same thing?"

      "... Shut up."

**_*~*_**

      "Stop tugging."

      "Stop flying so fast!" Hirokazu squeaked as he clutched to ChibiBa's hair, shaking.

      "Stop tugging or I'll do a flip and toss you off," ChibiBa replied, tensely.  Hirokazu squeaked and lightened his grip, but not by much.

      "Don't fight with him," Renamon crossed her arms as she sat next to Ruki.  "He's your ride."

      "Oh dear, oh dear!" Guardromon rambled.

      "I think I'm gonna be sick...," Kenta groaned as he held a piece of ChibiBa's armor in a death grip.

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon chirped soothingly from his place on Kenta's shoulder as he nuzzled his Tamer's face.

      "Puke on me and you're street pizza!" ChibiBa snarled.

      "I won't!" Kenta yelped fearfully.

      "How much farther?" Impmon grumbled.

      Sera glanced down at the city lights far below them, one arm around Impmon as the other held onto ChibiBa tightly.  "I have no idea," she muttered.  "We're too high up."

      "We're almost there!" ChibiBa replied.  "Just a little more!"

      Terriermon eyed Impmon oddly.  "Why're you even here, clown-face?" he asked.  "I thought you hated humans."

      "Shut up," Impmon glowered.

      "Are you ready for this, Ruki?" Renamon glanced at her Tamer.

      "Of course," Ruki smirked.

      "Hmmm, have you started LIKING humans now, Impmon?" Terriermon asked suggestively as he eyed how Sera was holding onto Impmon.

      "Oi, ChibiBa!  Can you try and toss him off?" Impmon growled.

      "Later.  Tsu first," ChibiBa replied.

      "Ooooh!  Looks like I hit the nail on the head," Terriermon smirked.

      "Terriermon, we don't have time to mess around," Jenrya scolded.

      Takato was uncharacteristically silent during the flight, and kept his eyes down onto the ground as he sat next to Guilmon.

      "Why didn't you two stay with Juri?" Ruki glanced at Kenta and Hirokazu.

      "We wanted to help," Kenta moaned, feeling queasy.

      "We can be helpful too!" Hirokazu agreed.

      "... How kind.  Throw up on me and I'll still toss you to the road," ChibiBa growled.

      "I won't!" Kenta yelped, and held one hand over his mouth.

      "Oh dear, oh DEAR!" Guardromon whimpered.

      "Good thing Shuichon didn't wake up when I came to get you, Terriermon," Jenrya commented to his partner.  "She'd want to come along with Lopmon for sure if she did."

      "I'm just glad to be out of that dress," Terriermon muttered.  "You just can't fight that girl!  Especially when you're not around to save me, Jen."

      "Sorry about that, Terriermon," Jenrya sweat-dropped.

      "WE'RE HERE!" ChibiBa bellowed, eyes blazing.

      Without another word, ChibiBa broke in to a literal nosedive.

      Most the passengers on ChibiBa's back cried out in alarm as they clung tightly onto him, for fear of flying off.

      "WHOAWHOAWHOA!" Hirokazu shrieked.

      "OH DEAR, OH DEAR!" Guardromon cried.

      "Urk!" Kenta grunted and tried desperately not to throw up or let go.

      "Piiiiii!" Marine Angemon squealed, delighted.

      Takato grunted with exertion as he tried to hold on.  Guilmon yelped and flailed his claws as the sudden decent caught him off-guard.  "YAAA!" he yelped.

      "Guilmon!" Takato cried and grabbed his partner's arm.  "I gotcha!"

      Renamon simply held on, stern and without complaint, as she helped Ruki stay on ChibiBa's back.  Ruki glared as the circus came in to sight, her jaw set.

      Jenrya grit his teeth and squinted one eye open, trying to see despite the wind whipping into his face.  He helped hold onto Terriermon who had started to fly off because his ears had caught the wind.  "WHOA!" Terriermon yelped, gripping Jenrya tightly.

      Sera squinted her eyes a bit and leaned forward into the dive, not uttering a sound; it was as if she were used to such high speeds.  She held onto Impmon firmly in her lap with one hand as her other hand gripped ChibiBa's armor tightly, so neither of them would be knocked off.

      Impmon yelped, squinting his eyes.  "Eeeyah!  I thought you said you'd toss him LATER?!"

      "Baaa~!"

      All the Tamers and their digimon paused and blinked as Sheepmon flew past them, charred and rattled.  Sheepmon blinked at them, then wiggled its ears before it disappeared in to the clouds.

      "... What was that?" Hirokazu stared.

      "I don't think we want to know," Jenrya said.

      "... Sheepmon," ChibiBa replied.

      "Flying lamb chops!" Impmon snickered.  Sera giggled at that.

      Seconds later, ChibiBa jerked in to a complete stop, jarring all of the Tamers and digimon on his back.

      "W-W-WHAAAAH!" Hirokazu yelped as he fell off, landing with a clunk on the circus grounds.

      "OH DEEEEAAAR!" Guardromon cried as he crashed alongside his Tamer.  "... I'm alright...," he muttered, dazed.

      Kenta squealed as he went flying off of ChibiBa, and thumped onto the ground once before he bonked his head on a port-a-potty.  Once he recovered, Kenta dashed inside it to use the facilities, his face green.

      Marine Angemon squeaked in delight and then blinked before flying over to the port-a-potty to wait for his Tamer.

      Takato grunted with exertion as he tried to keep both himself and Guilmon from flying off, but he wasn't strong enough.  The two went flying off of the giant Mega, landing onto the ground in a heap.  "OOF!"

      Jenrya tried to hold on, but ultimately failed as he flew upwards.  Thinking quickly, Terriermon opened his ears and grabbed on to Jenrya's shoulders.  Slowly, the two drifted to the ground smoothly.  "Whew!  Thanks, Terriermon," Jenrya sighed with relief.

      Renamon flipped off of ChibiBa, holding Ruki in her arms, and landed on the ground delicately.  "We're here."

      Oddly, Sera and Impmon were the only ones that weren't discharged from ChibiBa's back from the sudden jarring motion.  Sera had somehow managed to keep a hold on the giant Mega through out the entire stop.

      Impmon blinked, then peered through Sera's arms to smirk at the others.  "HAH!"

      ChibiBa smirked and knelt, allowing Sera to easily climb off his back.

      "What a ride," Sera commented before she climbed off ChibiBa's back with Impmon in one arm.  "Thanks."  She smiled at ChibiBa.

      ChibiBa smiled, and then glowed a brilliant silver color.  Slowly, his illuminated form shrank until he was travel size once more.  It died down to reveal the tiny ChibiBa.

      "Of course the girl's the only one to get off safely," Hirokazu moaned.

      "Does that make Impmon a girl?" Terriermon asked.

      "Shut up," Impmon scowled.

      "Let's go!" ChibiBa replied.  He toddled over to Hirokazu and kicked him in the side.  "Make yourself useful and guard your friend.  He's still puking."

      "What?" Hirokazu blinked.  "But I..."

      "GUARD HIM or I'll play soccer with your head!" ChibiBa glared.

      "... Okay, yes sir!  Guard Kenta, it is!" Hirokazu saluted.

      "Oh dear...," Guardromon sighed.  "So much biting and boiling and violence."

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon agreed.

      ChibiBa snorted at them, then turned and strode purposely for the tent.

      "Let's go, Renamon," Ruki grumbled as she followed after ChibiBa.  Renamon nodded, then followed quietly.

      "Are you okay, Guilmon?" Takato asked his partner, who was shaking his head to clear it.

      "I'm okay, Takato," Guilmon said as he stood up.

      "Good," Takato sighed with relief, and the two followed after ChibiBa quickly.

      "Ready to go, Terriermon?" Jenrya asked.

      "Heh, I was BORN ready," Terriermon smirked.  The two then followed the others to the tent.

      Sera looked at the Tamers and then glanced down at Impmon.  "Uh... shall we?" she asked with some uncertainty.

      "Uh... right," Impmon glanced at Sera.  "You sure you don't want to stay here while I go in?"

      "No, no, I'm going in," Sera said firmly.  "You're my partner, and I have to look out for you."

      Impmon looked at Sera blankly, and then sighed.  "... Right..."

      "... Besides...," Sera glanced at the tent with some trepidation.  "... Chances are Ai and Makoto are in there too..."

      Impmon turned and darted after the others, glancing back at Sera uncomfortably.  Sera followed behind Impmon, taking her D-Arc out of her pocket and gripping it tightly in her hands, thankful that she had the sense to bring it along when she had gone to check out the disturbance back at camp.

      As the Tamers and Digimon entered the tent, the sight of thousands of large purple crystals greeted them.  They shimmered oddly, seeming to cast their own light, as they created a labyrinth of crystal.  They might have been pretty if not for the fact that each crystal had an imprisoned, unconscious child in it.

      "What the?!" Impmon squeaked.

      Sera gasped as she looked around, staring at all the crystals with wide, disbelieving eyes.

      "Children?  There's children in them!" Ruki blinked.

      "Are they containment devices?" Renamon asked.

      "I'd say that's exactly what they are," Jenrya guessed as he approached one of the crystals cautiously.

      "... What're they going to do with all these children!?" Takato stared.

      "Sell them as Christmas ornaments?" Terriermon joked lightly.

      Guilmon sniffed one of the crystals, blinking in confusion.  "Looks like ice, but doesn't smell like it," he muttered.

      "Tsu?" ChibiBa ran up to the crystals, peering.  "Tsu?"

      "He's here somewhere," Jenrya muttered.  "And so is half the city's children!"

      "This is gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Terriermon commented as he peered into one of the crystals.

      "How do we get them out?" Takato asked as he lightly rapped his knuckles on one of the crystals.

      "How strong are they?" Ruki ran her hands up and down one crystal, testingly.  "Can we break them?"

      "Baaaa~!"

      The sound of tearing issued as Sheepmon fell through the tent.  With a bonk, it hit one of the crystals and bounced off of it.  It tumbled in to the back, bleating with each bounce.

      "What the...," Takato blinked.

      Jenrya frowned as he examined the crystal that had gotten knocked down.  Experimentally he shook it slightly and his frown increased.  "... I don't think breaking the crystals is such a good idea," he muttered.  "They don't move when the crystal's shaken."  He looked up towards the others.  "I think they're FUSED inside the crystals!"

      "... That Sheepmon!" ChibiBa gasped, suddenly.  "That Sheepmon'll know something!"

      "It's worth a try," Ruki muttered.  "Let's go get 'em."

      ChibiBa broke off in to a run, scampering through the labyrinth of trapped children after the Sheepmon.  The Tamers and their digimon followed suit, hurrying so they wouldn't lose sight of ChibiBa.

      The digimon and Tamers found Sheepmon at the far back of the tent, twitching and quite frazzled.  "Baaaa...," it moaned.

      Suddenly, ChibiBa lunged and grabbed Sheepmon in a strangle hold.  "WHERE IS TSU!?" ChibiBa hissed.  Sheepmon blinked, then bleated in panic.  ChibiBa shook Sheepmon violently.  "Tell me now or I'll make mutton!"

      Carefully, Renamon leaned over and scooped Sheepmon away from ChibiBa to prevent its mutilation.  Sheepmon quivered fearfully as ChibiBa glared.

      "Tell us what you know," Renamon said, calmly.

      "Baa?" Sheepmon blinked.

      "Can it even speak?" Ruki asked in agitation.

      "Maybe not... but it must know something," Renamon replied.  She looked at Sheepmon.  "Take us to the digimon responsible for this..."  Renamon paused, then glanced at ChibiBa.  "... And Tsuyosa."

      "Baa."  Sheepmon wiggled its ears.

      "..."

      Renamon grabbed Sheepmon by the scruff of its neck and dangled him over ChibiBa.

      "I'll let him eat you," she pointed out.

      Sheepmon yelped and kicked its feet, frantically, as ChibiBa growled in a feral manner at the digimon.

      "He'll do it too," Ruki smirked.

      ChibiBa snapped his jaws.

      Sheepmon paled, then let out a terrified bleat and pointed in front of the Tamers.  The area that Sheepmon pointed in seemed to be the darkest part of the tent, where there seemed to be no crystals to give off their pale light.

      ChibiBa glanced in the direction, and then scowled.  "That way, huh?"

      Sheepmon nodded vigorously as it bleated pathetically.

      "Let's hurry," Takato said as he and Guilmon ran boldly into the dark.

      "Tsuuu!" ChibiBa ran after, on Takato's heels.

      "You're coming with us," Renamon pointed out as she followed as well.

      Sheepmon sniffled.

      Ruki grunted and chased after, eyes narrowing.

      Jenrya frowned, not liking rushing headlong into the unknown, but still followed the others with Terriermon.

      Impmon paused and looked at Sera.  "Do you see Ai and Mako-chan?" he ventured.

      Sera shook her head as she looked around at the nearby crystals.  "No, I-," suddenly she stopped in mid-sentence.  Her eyes widened as she looked back at what she had spotted.  "-!  There!  There they are!" she cried as she pointed towards a batch of crystals.

      Impmon whirled and darted over, panicked.

      Hidden among a large group of purple crystals, lay a pair that contained the twins, who lay in identical sleeping positions within them.

      Impmon darted over and touched the crystals, frantically.  "Ai!  Mako-chan!  Can you hear me!?"

      The two unconscious children didn't react to Impmon's calls.  They didn't even appear to be breathing within their confines; the crystals keeping them in a state of perfect suspended animation.

      Sera ran over to the crystals and stared in silent horror at her cousins inside of them.

      "Ai... Mako-chan...," Impmon stared, horrified.  "... This is my fault..."

      "..."  Sera touched each of the crystals and hung her head forward.  "No... this is my fault...," she whispered.  "... I should have stayed..."  She looked mournfully at her young cousins trapped within the crystals.  "I knew a digimon snuck into your room, but I still went on that trip...  I should have told your parents and stayed...  I'm so sorry Ai...  Makoto...," she said to her trapped cousins, not expecting them to hear her.

      "We've got to get them out!"  Impmon's ears drooped.  "But how?"

      "... I don't know..."  Sera looked down at Impmon.  "But we've got to find out."  She nodded her head towards where they had come.  "Come on, we need to go catch up to the others.  It's the only way we'll find out how to undo this..."

      Impmon nodded, then turned to race after the Tamers.  "We'll get them out... and I'll make them sorry they ever touched Ai and Mako-chan!" he snarled.

      Sera nodded sharply as she turned, glancing back at Ai and Makoto one last time before she started racing after Impmon.  "Right!"

**_*~*_**

      Meanwhile, the Tamers and Digimon darted through the darkened area of the tent.  At first, there was nothing but darkness, leaving them to fumble.  Eventually, however, the Tamers and Digimon caught sight of a bright light in the distance.

      "How... big is this tent!?" ChibiBa growled as he ran.

      "This place seems like it's inside its own sub-dimension," Jenrya commented.

      "It's a Digimon tent, anything's possible," Renamon pointed out.

      "So keep your eyes open," Ruki agreed.

      "How much farther?" Takato asked, glancing at Renamon who was still carrying Sheepmon.

      "Baaah," Sheepmon bleated pathetically.

      "Does that answer your question?" Terriermon quipped.

      "No, I don't think so," Guilmon blinked.  "How far is a 'Baaah'?"

      "... Forget I asked," Takato muttered.

      "I see something!" ChibiBa hissed.  "Up ahead!  In the light!"

      A large black silhouette appeared in the light, in the shape of a large crystal.  As the group appeared, the silhouette revealed itself to be another containment crystal.

      It was much larger than the others, as well as a soft green compared to their purple.  The crystal was hollow, filled with a bubbling green liquid.  Suspended within the liquid was Tsuyosa.  He floated quietly, eyes closed and curled up slightly.  He seemed too frail and delicate as he floated inside the crystal, unaware of his surroundings.

      The crystal itself was housed in an odd room that seemed to be separate from the tent.  Unlike the soft material that made up the rest of the building, the current room was made out of bright red brick.  Props and circus furniture littered the room, though the crystal seemed to have its own corner.

      Snuggling the giant crystal, lovingly tracing its paw up and down the curves, was Pandamon.

      Jenrya whipped out his D-Arc and aimed it at Pandamon.  He paused, and then furrowed his eyebrows.  "... Pandamon... Ultimate...  A data," he muttered.  "... He looks tough."

      "No, he's a giant panda," Terriermon pointed out.  "He looks cuddly!"

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato gasped at the sight.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa cried, horrified.

      "Eh?" Pandamon looked up, his paw still tenderly stroking the crystal.  "How'd you get in here?"

      "... I don't think I want to know what that digimon's been doing to Tsuyosa," Terriermon muttered, eyeing Pandamon.

      "What's that supposed to mean?" Pandamon sniffed, disdainfully.  "I'd never hurt MY Tamer!"

      "YOUR TAMER?!" ChibiBa thundered.  "He's MY Tamer!"

      "Not anymore," Pandamon snorted.  "I'm keeping him!  He's mine now!"

      "How can he be your Tamer if you keep him locked up in that crystal like a prisoner?" Ruki demanded.

      "He's just shy," Pandamon sighed, dreamily tracing Tsuyosa's outline.

      "... He's not shy, he's unconscious!" Takato snapped.  "Let Tsuyosa go!"

      "No," Pandamon stuck his tongue out.  "He's mine!"

      "I'LL RIP YOU APART YOU TAMER STEALING TEDDY BEAR!" ChibiBa roared, practically foaming at the mouth.

      "Temper, temper!" Pandamon sniffed.  "You don't DESERVE him!"

      ChibiBa let out a feral snarl and lunged at Pandamon.  Pandamon yelped, then whirled and grabbed a lever that was previously hidden from sight.

      ChibiBa's eyes widened as the floor gave out below him, sending him plummeting in to the dark depths.  The door snapped shut with a click as Pandamon sighed in relief.

      "ChibiBa!" Takato cried.

      "There, there," Pandamon crooned to the crystal.  "That mean old THING won't frighten you anymore!"

      "What did you do?" Ruki demanded.

      "I dropped him in to the funhouse maze below!" Pandamon replied, cutely.  "He can work off his NEGATIVE ENERGY down there!"

      "We'll give ya 'negative energy'," Terriermon said as he hopped out of Jenrya's arms.  "Come on, Jen, let's rush 'em!"

      "Renamon!" Ruki snarled.  Renamon nodded and jumped up to stand by Terriermon.

      "Guilmon, you too!" Takato called.

      "Right, Takato!" Guilmon said as he went to stand with the other two.

      "What are you so upset about?" Pandamon blinked.  "Are you jealous, too?"

      "You'd better let Tsuyosa, ChibiBa, and all the children you kidnapped, go right now," Jenrya warned.

      "Or we're gonna kick your butt!" Terriermon added.

      Pandamon straightened his shoulders and shook his head.  "Tsk, tsk!  Didn't you learn anything from what happened to that hot head?"

      "We know where the trap door is now," Takato said.  "So you're not going to drop us into your funhouse!"

      "Oh really?" Pandamon tilted his head.  "Did it ever occur to you that I might have two trap doors?"

      Without giving them a chance to respond, Pandamon whirled and threw another lever.  Immediately, the floor underneath the Tamers and Digimon gave way.  With numerous cries of surprise, the six plunged into the darkness below.

      Pandamon watched them fall as the trapdoor slowly slid shut.  He blinked, then turned to smile at the imprisoned Tsuyosa.

      "Well, that was pointless!"


	10. Funhouse of DOOM

Authors' Notes:  Hewwo again everybody!  It's time for another new chapter!  Yes, yes, I know you all know by now that Tsuyosa and Sera along with any and all other new characters we introduce as well as this story belong to us.  So instead of repeating that (despite the fact that I just did ;P) I'll sing the doom song now!  Here I go!  ...  Or maybe not, since I've run out of time.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 10: Funhouse of DOOM_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Well, that was pointless!"

      "It's not like any of us knew he had a SECOND trap door, Ruki," Jenrya muttered as he stood up, the floor squishing a bit beneath his feet.

      "They always have second trap doors," ChibiBa trotted over, looking more than a little angry.  "COWARD."

      After falling through the trap door, the Tamers and digimon were certain to crash harshly onto the ground, however, they had instead bounced off a rubbery surface, which served to cushion their fall.

      "So now where are we?" Ruki began as she tried to stand up, and then yelped as the floor wobbled and sent her falling.  Renamon caught her just in time and the two stared at the floor.

      "The floor's bouncy," ChibiBa pointed out.  "It's a funhouse."

      Guilmon giggled as he bounced around on the floor, preventing Takato from being able to get up, as he was right next to the happy digimon.  "Weee!  This is fun!" Guilmon cheered.

      "G-Guilmon!" Takato yelped as he flopped around on the floor, struggling to stand.

      Terriermon bounced off the floor to more easily hop onto Jenrya's shoulder.  "So now what?" he asked, glancing up.  "Do we try to bust outta here or what?"

      "More IMPORTANTLY...  What's that... that... THING going to do to Tsu!?" ChibiBa whimpered, eyes shimmering.  "He was... TOUCHING him almost... DIRTILY!"

      "Statutory rape?" Terriermon mused.

      "Terriermon!" Jenrya scolded.

      "What?!  That's what it's called isn't it?" Terriermon asked.

      "NOOO!" ChibiBa squealed as if wounded.  "IT'S MY FAULT!  I LET HIM GO TO CAMP ALONE!  NOW HE'S BEING MOLESTED AND IT'S MY FAULT!"

      ChibiBa curled up in a corner of the room, sniffling and sobbing pathetically.

      "Now look what you've done," Jenrya sighed.

      "Sorry," Terriermon muttered.

      "Is there an exit?" Ruki looked around the room.

      "There has to be." Renamon replied.

      Meanwhile, ChibiBa started to hiccup as he snuffled.

      Guilmon finally stopped bouncing as ChibiBa cried, and then started to walk over to the Mega level digimon.  Takato sighed in relief as he pulled himself to his feet.  "Why're you crying?" Guilmon asked innocently.

      "T-T-Tsu's being molested and i-it's all my faaaaaault!" ChibiBa wailed.  "I left him alone!  T-That monster's right!  I don't deserve him!"  ChibiBa hiccupped as he sniffled in the corner.

      Guilmon blinked as he made a noise of confusion.  He then reached out to pat ChibiBa's shoulder with a claw.  "There, there," he said, sounding surprisingly mature.  "It's not your fault.  Pandamon's mean, but ChibiBa's stronger than Pandamon so you'll win."

      ChibiBa snuffled and blinked, then looked at Guilmon.

      "Not ChibiBa's fault!" Guilmon repeated loudly as he sat down by the Mega.

      ChibiBa stared at Guilmon, then blinked again.

      "So stop crying, okay?"

      "... Okay..." ChibiBa had no idea how else to respond as he stared at Guilmon, awed by the fact that he actually sounded slightly intelligent.

      "If you're done having a pity party, we should get going now," Ruki said flatly.

      "There's a door over here," Renamon said as she felt the wall, gingerly.  "It's disguised to look like its part of the wall."

      "Great, so let's bust that door down and get outta here," Ruki said.

      With a growl, Renamon kicked the door.  A loud crack issued as the door tottered over, creaking.  Seconds later, the sound of glass shattering followed as the door hit the floor.  The passageway beyond the fallen door was a corridor made entirely of mirrors, which included the ceiling and floor.  Somehow it was brightly illuminated despite there being no obvious light source.

      "What the..." ChibiBa blinked and darted in to the corridor, his tiny legs moving fast.

      The others followed after ChibiBa, glancing at the mirrors with a passing interest.  Takato and Guilmon had to watch where they stepped after walking over the door since there were shards of a broken mirror all over the floor.

      Terriermon glanced at the shards, and then at Renamon.  "Looks like you're gonna get seven years bad luck," he teased.

      Renamon simply smirked as she walked in to the room, followed by Ruki.

      Jenrya walked into the corridor, glancing at one of the mirrors as he passed it.  He blinked at what he saw and then backed up a bit to look again.  "... What the?" he gasped, eyes widening.

      Instead of his reflection of him holding Terriermon, the mirror cast an image of Shuichon looking back at him with his exact expression and pose, holding Lopmon in her arms.

      "... What kind of mirrors are these!?" Ruki gasped as she stopped in front of a mirror and stared.  Smiling back, calm and loving, was her grandmother.  Her grandmother smiled, then waved at her innocently.

      "Takatomooon!" Guilmon nudged Takato, urgently.  "Look!"  Takato blinked and turned to look at what Guilmon was pointing at.

      In the mirror directly in front of Takato was Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa blinked slowly out at Takato, then sighed and slumped his shoulders.

      Takato blinked slowly as he stared at the mirror.  "... Why are we seeing these things?" he asked aloud as he placed his hand curiously onto the mirror's glossy surface.

      "HEY!  DON'T TOUCH TSU!  EVEN HIS REFLECTION!" ChibiBa lunged and latched on to Takato's leg.

      Tsuyosa paused and glanced at Takato's hand, before his expression shifted to an evil smirk.  Suddenly, Tsuyosa lunged and grabbed Takato's arm before yanking him in to the mirror.

      Takato screamed as he struggled to get away from Tsuyosa's mirror image, but his cries were cut short once he was pulled completely through the glass.

      ChibiBa yelped and tried to pull Takato out, but it was too late as he too was yanked in to the mirror.

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon cried as he banged his claws ineffectively on the mirror that had pulled ChibiBa and Takato inside.

      "TAKATO!" Jenrya cried as he whirled towards where his friend was.  He was caught off-guard because of this, unfortunately, as the Shuichon in the mirror grabbed his ankles and caused him to fall over, sending Terriermon flying from his arms.

      "WHOA!" Terriermon yelped as he flew at Renamon.

      Ruki whirled to see what was happening, then yelped as her mirror Grandmother lunged and grabbed her by the waist.  Ruki yowled as she was yanked backwards in to the mirror, kicking and screaming.

      "Ruki!" Renamon cried as she tried to save her Tamer.  Unfortunately Terriermon crashed into her at that instant, knocking her away from Ruki.

      Seeing Renamon wouldn't be able to get to Ruki in time, Guilmon rushed over to the captured Tamer and grabbed onto her arm, trying to pull her out.  Unfortunately the mirror image was too strong for the Rookie, and he was pulled in as well.

      By the time Renamon recovered from the blow, Ruki and Guilmon had already been pulled inside the mirror completely.

      "RUKI!" Renamon cried out.

      "H-HEY!" Jenrya yowled as he clawed at the floor.  "TERRIERMON!"  Shuichon smirked evilly as she tugged, dragging Jenrya in to the mirror.

      "JEN!" Terriermon cried as he darted over to Jenrya.  "HOLD ON!"  He quickly grabbed onto Jenrya's arm and tried to pull it as hard as he could.  Lopmon flashed Terriermon an evil smirk and helped Shuichon pull Jenrya at the same time Terriermon had started to pull Jenrya.

      Renamon darted over and grabbed Jenrya's other arm, proceeding to help Terriermon.  "These mirrors... it was a trap!"

      "No, really, Miss Obvious?" Terriermon grunted as he tugged, digging in his heels.

      The two digimon seemed to be stronger two mirror images, and slowly pulled Jenrya out of the mirror.  Unfortunately, before Jenrya was completely free, a mirror image of his dad appeared to help Shuichon pull him in.  Jenrya's dad smirked and grabbed hold of Jenrya's hips.  Then, with a vicious grin, he yanked as hard as he could.

      Jenrya's dad was surprisingly strong, as Jenrya, Renamon, and Terriermon found out as they were all instantly yanked into the mirror with a great force.

      A hideous, cackling laughter echoed from all of the mirrors as the children and digimon fell through the mirrors, surrounded by bright prismatic lights.

**_*~*_**

      Pandamon sighed happily as he traced Tsuyosa's outline with a paw, humming to himself.  "Aren't you a lovely Tamer?  Yes you are!" Pandamon crooned, lovingly.

      "... This is disturbing," Sera muttered as she emerged from the darkness with Impmon and saw Pandamon with the crystal.

      "VERY," Impmon agreed, crossing his arms.

      Pandamon blinked and looked at Sera and Impmon.  "Oh, not more?" he sighed.

      "YES!  5,000!"

      "Knock it off."

      Impmon jumped and looked around, startled.  Sera blinked and looked around, but saw nothing aside from Pandamon and the crystal containing Tsuyosa.

      Pandamon paused and tapped his chin.  "I remember you now.  You're that girl!  And that digimon that threw up all over Opossomon."

      "Heh, heh."

      Impmon blinked and tapped his chin.  "I threw up on someone?" he blinked.  "Must've been someone ugly."

      "... I AM NOT UGLY!  YOU'RE UGLY!"

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked once more and glanced around.

      "Ooo, someone's defensive, Nyaaar!"

      "... That's the Black Tailmon!" Sera gasped as she recognized one of the voices.

      "... Shut up or I'll hurt you."

      "I see," Pandamon eyed Sera, then Impmon.  He smiled brightly.  "Hey, you're awfully cute!"

      "W-w-WHAT!?" Impmon squeaked.  "I am NOT!"

      "Yes, you are," Pandamon smiled.

      "I have to agree with him on that point," Sera commented.

      "I'm cuter!"

      "I am NOT cute!" Impmon snarled, crossing his arms.

      "No, you are."  Pandamon grinned as he walked towards Impmon.  "You've got the cute little button nose, the chubby little tummy, the big floppy ears, and big adorable eyes.  I'm sorry, but you're just plain cute."

      "... I AM NOT CUTE!" Impmon roared.

      "Awww, someone's in deeeniiiaaal!  Nyaaaar!"

      Sera glanced between Pandamon and Impmon, not sure of what to do.  This was something she never would've imagined happening whenever she dreamed of being a Digi-Destined.

      "I AIN'T CUTE!" Impmon repeated.  "I'm COOL, yes.  But cute!?"

      "I'm afraid so," Pandamon snickered.

      "Look, buddy!" Impmon growled.  "I ain't cute."

      "He's not cute!  He's ugly!"

      "I ain't ugly, either!  I'm COOL!" Impmon repeated.

      "UUUUUGLY!  So ugly he makes mirrors shatter!"

      "Look who's talkin'!" Impmon snarled.  "PUKE FACE!"

      "Literally, nyar."

      "..."  There was the sound of something getting hit in the darkness.  "I said shut up!"

      "OW!"

      "Nope, nope, nope.  You're definitely cute!" Pandamon crooned.  "Which means I need to hug you!  Then you can join our circus!  It IS the Cutest Show On Earth!"

      "He's NOT cute!  He's totally not cute!  He's so not cute, he's ANTI-CUTE!"

      "Nyar, he's so cute he redefines cute!"

      "..."  Again there was the sound of hitting.

      "OW!!"

      "H-hey, wait.  What's this hug crap?" Impmon stared.

      Pandamon beamed and spread his arms.  "HUG!"

      "HE'S UGLY!  HIDEOUS!  THE ANTI-CUTENESS!  HE MAKES CHILDREN CRY!"

      "HEY!" Sera yelled into the dark, agitated.  "Impmon IS cute, so knock it off with the insults!"  She then blinked as she noticed Pandamon approaching Impmon.  "Wha?"

      Impmon stared, then screamed and ran.  He darted away from Pandamon, who proceeded to chase him around the room.

      "I'm going to hug you!" Pandamon sang.

      "NO!" Impmon shrieked, flailing hysterically.  "NOOOOO!"

      Sera stared blankly as Pandamon chased Impmon, completely unprepared for the occurrence.

      "Just wait until the initiation, nyar.  You'll be surprised how many uses there are for peanut butter!"

**_*~*_**

      Ruki flinched as she sat up, rubbing her forehead.

      "Ehhh... Renamon?" she muttered, wincing.  "Where am I...?"

      "Renamon's not here," Guilmon said from where he was crouched beside Ruki.

      Ruki blinked, then looked up at Guilmon.  "... Guilmon?"

      "Yep, that's me," Guilmon replied.

      "... Where are we?" Ruki glanced about, slowly, as she sat on the floor.  "Where are the others?"

      "Dunno," Guilmon whined as his ear wings drooped.  "Takatomon disappeared in a mirror with ChibiBa and I think I disappeared with you in another."

      "... Well, then."  Ruki stood up and dusted herself off.  "Let's go find them.  They have to be here somewhere."

      "Right!" Guilmon said happily.

      "Can you smell them?" Ruki glanced at the dinosaur Digimon.

      "No, but I smell food!" Guilmon announced as he sniffed the air.  "It smells real yummy, but I didn't wanna go eat until you woke up."

      "... Food?" Ruki blinked.  "Where?"

      "That way," Guilmon pointed with his snout.

      Sure enough, a short distance away from where they were was a large room filled with all sorts of freshly made food arranged on numerous buffet tables.

      Ruki blinked as she stared at the tables.  "Why would there be food here?" she muttered.  "Is it poisonous?"

      Guilmon quickly darted into the room, and then glanced back at Ruki.  "Let's eat!" he cheered, completely missing what Ruki muttered.

      "Wait!  It might be poisonous!" Ruki repeated as she ran after Guilmon.

      Guilmon picked up a roll of bread and sniffed it before blinking at Ruki.  "What's poisonous?" he asked.

      "The food!  It might be a trap!" Ruki growled, pointing at the food.  "They might be trying to kill us before we can find the others!"

      "Aww..."  Guilmon drooped as he reluctantly placed the bread roll down onto the table, eying the food sadly.  Oddly, as he lifted his paw away from the bread, he found that the bread came with it, as if it were glued on.  "Huh?"

      "C'mon, let's go.  We'll get real food after we deal with that Pandamon."  Ruki turned to walk away from the table, not noticing Guilmon's plight.

      Guilmon grunted as he used his claws to try to remove the bread, and then yelped loudly as he felt a sharp pain in his paw.  "OW!  Bread bit me!"

      "Huh?"  Ruki turned to look at Guilmon, then squeaked as a piece of fruit leapt up off of the table and slammed in to her face.  "HEY!"

      Guilmon yowled as a pile of rolls flew from the table and hit him in the head.  "OW!  HEY STOP IT!"  Ruki fumbled back, wiping at her face as more fruit flew at her.

      "Guilmon!  Run!  It's possessed food!" she cried.

      Ruki whirled and darted away from the table, wincing and yelping as an apple hit her back and splattered like rotten fruit.

      Guilmon yelped as a pie hit him in the face, and quickly wiped it off.  "Right!" he yelped, and quickly ran after Ruki, food pelting at his back.  Ruki glanced back, and then yelped as a large watermelon floated upwards.

      "QUICKLY!" she barked.

      "I'm hurrying!" Guilmon yowled as he tried to catch up to Ruki.

      As Ruki and Guilmon approached the wall, the wall itself seemed to rearrange itself in to a door.  Ruki blinked, then ran over and kicked the door open with a grunt.  The door swung open, allowing Ruki and Guilmon inside.  The two darted in just as the door slammed shut, the watermelon hitting it and shattering.

**_*~*_**

      "Where did these guys come from?  The reject circus!?" Terriermon grunted as he clung to Jenrya's shoulders.

      Jenrya didn't reply as he ran down the hallway, followed closely by Renamon.  Behind them, hundreds of chubby Digimon chased after them.  The Digimon looked odd, wearing raggedy pink dinosaur outfits with large black claws.  They fumbled, bumping in to walls as the large costume maw they wore obscured their vision, but they were determined to keep after Jenrya, Terriermon, and Renamon.

      While normally they wouldn't have run from a fight, only Terriermon would have been able to evolve, and even as a Mega, he would have been overpowered by the sheer numbers of the Ultimates chasing them.

      "What ARE they?" Terriermon demanded as he clung to Jenrya.

      "X-Tyrannomon," Jenrya replied, tensely.  "Ultimate level... and there's too many!"

      "If Ruki where here...," Renamon growled.  "But now all we can do is try to lose them until we have a fighting chance!"

      "Right," Jenrya nodded.  "I just hope we find the others soon!"

      "I even wish Impmon where here!" Terriermon sighed.

      "Why?" Jenrya blinked.

      "All he'd have to do is look at them and they'd be deleted!"

**_*~*_**

      Silence reined as ChibiBa stalked down the hallway, in front of Takato.  His expression was dark and irritable, which was very apparent by his every movement.

      Takato looked around nervously as he rubbed his arms, silently wishing Guilmon, or anyone else for that matter, were there with them.  Of all people to be alone with, ChibiBa had to have been the one to make him the most intimidated, aside from Tsuyosa.  Takato wasn't completely assured that ChibiBa wouldn't take advantage of this situation.

      ChibiBa stalked, refusing to even look at Takato, as he swung his claws with each step.

      After a few more moments of the hideous silence, ChibiBa suddenly paused and whirled about to glare at Takato.  Takato started as he blinked at ChibiBa.

      ChibiBa glared up at Takato, his claws on his hips.  "Why was Tsu wearing only a bathing suit and your shoes?"

      "Huh?" Takato blinked.  "Why're you asking that all of a sudden?"

      "In the crystal!  He was wearing nothing but swim trunks and YOUR shoes!" ChibiBa repeated, irritably.  "WHY?"

      "Well...  When Tsuyosa ran off, it was when everyone in camp went swimming," Takato explained, wary of the tiny Mega's wrath.  "When I caught up to him, his feet were hurt from all the walking he did without shoes, so I gave him mine."

      "..."  ChibiBa eyed Takato suspiciously.  "Is that so?"

      Takato nodded, more than a little nervous.  "Yeah."

      "... You didn't try anything?" ChibiBa glowered, darkly.

      "No, I didn't," Takato tried to assure ChibiBa.  "I'm not going to try to hurt Tsuyosa anymore.  In fact I'm hoping we can become friends."

      ChibiBa's cheek twitched.  "... Right, good."

      Takato let out a sigh of relief inwardly as ChibiBa seemed satisfied with that answer.

      ChibiBa whirled and started stalking down the hallway again, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like a mantra of "just a kid" over and over.

      Takato blinked at the mantra, but decided not to push his luck by asking about it.

      ChibiBa continued stalking, then paused and blinked as the hallway opened up in to a huge circular room.  "Eh?"

      Takato looked around the large, empty room, somewhat confused.  "There's no doors in here," he muttered.  "It's a dead end."

      Just as Takato had finished speaking, the entrance to the room sealed shut with a dull thud behind the two.

      Takato whirled towards where the door was, but the wall hid where it had been perfectly.  "It's a trap!" he cried in alarm.

      ChibiBa growled as he crouched, eyes darting around warily.

      There was a loud click and the soft thrum of machinery as the floor suddenly jerked.

      "What!?" ChibiBa squeaked.

      Takato yelped and wobbled as he tried to keep from falling over, as the floor started moving.  ChibiBa blinked as he slid around slowly, unable to hold on to the floor.

      The floor slowly started to spin in a circle, the walls apparently rotating along with it.  Takato quickly went over to the wall to help support him just in case.  ChibiBa yelped as he slid in to the wall, unable to stop.  He grunted as he hit the wall, then yelped as he was sent flying towards Takato.  Takato yowled and went sprawling to the floor against the wall as ChibiBa knocked his feet out from under him.

      ChibiBa shook his head, then yelped and clung to Takato unconsciously as the room literally started to spin like a top.

      Takato cried out in pain as the room forced him and ChibiBa painfully against the wall, the centrifugal force pressing heavily against them.

      "G-Gah!" ChibiBa managed to squeak before most of the air was forcefully pushed out of his body.  He clung to Takato, hysterically.

      Takato coughed and gasped for air as the combination of the centrifugal force and ChibiBa pressed against his chest made it hard to breathe.  "C-ChibiBa," he gasped.

      ChibiBa squealed as the force pressed him hard against Takato.  Sensing that he would crush the boy, ChibiBa slowly forced himself to slip off Takato's chest and on to the wall.  He grunted and gasped for air as he felt his body press tightly against the wall.  "Must... stop..."

      Takato coughed and gulped down air as best he could once some of the pressure was removed from his chest.  His relief was short lived, however, as the room was going ever faster and applying more and more force upon the two by the second.

      ChibiBa closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

      Then he saw images of Pandamon molesting Tsuyosa.

      ChibiBa's eyes snapped open wide as a feral growl ripped from his throat.  Fighting the centrifugal force of the spinning room, he rifted his claws upwards.

      "TERRA DESTROYER!"

      With an inhuman shriek of rage, ChibiBa flung a relatively small ball of energy from his claws and in to the wall opposite them.  The blast hit the wall with a shuddering rumble, causing the room to spiral out of control.

      Takato let out a cry of surprise in pain as the room sped up, struggling to breathe.  ChibiBa hissed and gritted his teeth, eyes squeezing shut.

      The room spun faster and faster before it suddenly came to a complete, jarring stop.

      The two were harshly flung from the wall as the stop jarred them and gravity took a hold of them.

      Takato hit the ground with an 'oof' of pain, and coughed in-between gasps as he tried to breathe normally again.  ChibiBa squeaked as he hit Takato in the back, then flipped in to the air and landed on his butt by the hole.  Takato made a pained sound as ChibiBa hit him, and then got to his knees shakily.  ChibiBa winced, then blinked and stared at the hole he had created.

      "Eh?" Takato gasped as he looked up.

      "I actually hit pay dirt!" ChibiBa cackled.

      "Good job, ChibiBa!" Takato said once his breathing was easier.  He got to his feet somewhat shakily as the spinning of the room had affected his equilibrium a bit.

      "Yessssssssssss...," ChibiBa hissed, eyes narrowing.  "I'm going to get you, Pandamon... and then I'll make you suffer!  OH, HOW YOU WILL SUFFER!  BWAHAHAHHAAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!"  ChibiBa tilted his head back and cackled demonically, eyes flashing as he held his claws skyward.

      Takato sweat-dropped as he unconsciously took a step back from ChibiBa.

      "LET'S GO!" ChibiBa grabbed Takato's arm, then ran for the hole.  "ONWARD... AND TO DELIVER ULTIMATE DOOOOOOM!"

      "... Doom?"

      "YES!  DOOOOOOOOOM!"

**_*~*_**

      "I'm gonna HUUUUUUUG yooooouuuuuuu!"

      "EEEEYAAAAH!" Impmon squealed as he ran from Pandamon.

      "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug!" Pandamon cried as he chased Impmon with his paws outstretched.

      "GET AWAY!" Impmon ran around the room in circles, trying to get away from Pandamon.

      "I'll hug you yet!"  Pandamon relentlessly continued to chase Impmon.

      "NOOOOOOO!"

      "This is like the time he kept chasing his tail because you tied a balloon to it, nyar."

      "This is much more entertaining though!"

      Sera helplessly watched Pandamon chase Impmon, uncertain as to what to do about it.  If Pandamon were trying to hurt Impmon, that'd be one thing, but she was completely unprepared for what was going on.

      "HUUUUUUG!" Pandamon cried.

      "YOU AIN'T HUGGIN' ME!" Impmon screamed as he scampered away.

      "YES I WIIIIIILL!" Pandamon yelled as he lunged at Impmon.  "HUUUUUUUG!!!"

      Impmon yelped and dove out of the way, hitting the floor with a squeak as he narrowly dodged Pandamon's arms.

      "I'll get you sooner or later!"  Pandamon darted after Impmon quickly.  "HUUUUUG!"

      "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Impmon shrieked as he scrambled away, flailing his arms.  "I DON'T WANT A HUG!"

      "YOUR MOUTH SAYS NO, BUT YOUR CUTENESS SAYS YES!"

      "YOU'RE INSANE!" Impmon squealed.  "SOMEONE HELP!"

      "How can I help?" Sera asked with uncertainty.

      "YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE THE HUG!" Pandamon cried.

      "HEEEEEELP!"  Impmon scrambled quickly by the crystal that had Tsuyosa in it, not even bothering to look at it as he tried to escape the bizarre panda digimon.

      "Okay, I'll try," Sera said as she moved to intercept Pandamon.

      "DO NOT RESIST THE HUG!"

      Just as Pandamon was running past her, Sera stuck out her foot and tripped the Ultimate digimon.  Pandamon's eyes bugged out as he went flying towards the crystal, and crashed into it.

      "Uh oh, nyar."

      "You said it."

      Impmon didn't waste any time as he grabbed Sera's hand and dragged her out of the room, back through the darkness to the tent full of crystals.

      "My Tamer!" Pandamon squealed, fearfully, as he quickly ran his paws over its surface.  "Oh, are you all right!?" he whimpered.  His claws paused when they found a tiny crack in the crystal.

      Pandamon stared at it, then narrowed his eyes and let out a low growl.  He started to quiver violently, hunching forward.  "He'll pay... for harming my Tamer!" he hissed.

      "Can I make him pay for ya, boss?" Opossomon asked with glee as he hopped out of the shadows next to Pandamon.

      "Yes...  YES...," Pandamon snarled.  "Make him squeal..."

      Opossomon let out a laugh that didn't sound completely wholesome.  "Of course, boss," he grinned.

      "You sound like you're going to enjoy it too much."  Black Tailmon stepped out of the shadows by Opossomon.

      "Me?  Naaaw..."  Opossomon waved off Black Tailmon's accusation.  "I'm just going to rearrange that 'cute' little face of his."

      "Heh.  Then I guess I'd better take care of the little busy-bodies down in the funhouse," Black Tailmon sighed.  "Nyar."

      "I don't care what you do...," Pandamon growled as he gently massaged the crystal, soothingly.  "I just want you to make that purple heathen suffer!"

      "Nyar."

      "With pleasure, boss!"


	11. Fatal Attraction

Authors' Notes: And here's where Dreaming to Reality takes a new turn and splits off into two chapter versions: a version with yaoi and a version without.  (For those of you that don't know, that means boy/boy romance.)  If you don't like that sort of thing, I suggest you go read the yaoi-free version.  If so, keep reading!  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and anyone else new along with this entire story belong to us!  No stealing!

Oh, as for the person who asked why Ruki and Renamon weren't using telepathy, I don't know where you got that idea from, since as far as Neon and me know, they don't have any such power in the series. o.O  I even checked over my collection of recordings and found nothing on it.  Also, we believe, Ai and Makoto were that bad; Toei just showed the PG version.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 11: Fatal Attraction_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "I think we're in trouble..."

      "I'll have to agree," Jenrya blinked slowly.  Renamon said nothing, glancing about.

      Their chase had come to a sudden end as they had found themselves in a large room, with no apparent way out.  This left the two digimon and Tamer cornered by the hundreds of X-Tyrannomon.

      "We have no choice but to fight," Renamon straightened up and glanced about, glowering.

      "Right," Jenrya nodded as he held up his D-Arc.  "Ready, Terriermon?"

      "Time to kick some butt!" Terriermon replied confidently.

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      A bright flash of green soon followed, blinding the X-Tyrannomon.

      "Terriermon evolve to..."

      The light flared up even more, causing the X-Tyrannomon to whimper and cover their eyes.  Renamon didn't respond, as if used to the whole process.

      "SAINT GALGOMON!" a giant voice thundered as the giant green terrier mecha digimon stood in the center of the room.

      The X-Tyrannomon paused and looked up at Saint Galgomon, dumbfounded.  They looked at each other, and then back at the giant Mega, before they all ran squealing.

      Renamon blinked, then tilted her head as the Ultimates ran for their lives away from the Mega.  "... How anti-climatic," she observed.

      Saint Galgomon blinked as the last of the Ultimates disappeared into the dark, before glowing green and changing back into Terriermon and Jenrya.  "Aww...  What a gyp!" Terriermon pouted.  "I wanted to kick their butts!"

      "Let's just hope they stay away," Jenrya muttered.

      "After seeing you evolve to Mega, chances are that they will," Renamon commented.

      In the shadows, Black Tailmon lashed her tail irritably and crossed her arms.  She wrinkled her nose in disgusted and lashed her tail even more as the group continued on their way.  "... Nyar... so much for the power of stupid people in large numbers," she hissed.  "Looks like I'll need to deal with this myself!"

**_*~*_**

      Takato grimaced as his feet were starting to hurt from all of the walking that he had been doing without shoes, but didn't complain aloud.  Despite how he was suffering for it now, if he had to do it all over again, he still would have given his sneakers to Tsuyosa when they were in the woods together.

      ChibiBa seemed fine, fueled by his inner determination to slaughter Pandamon most brutally.  He strode ahead, purposely, as he chuckled evilly.

      That was another reason that Takato didn't dare complain out loud.

      "Heh, heh... when I find him... I'm going to twist off his arms!" ChibiBa purred.  "SLOWLY."

      Takato sweat-dropped.  Ever since they had escaped from the spinning room, ChibiBa had been alternating between describing how he was going to hurt Pandamon and cackling maniacally.

      Takato blinked as he suddenly noticed a light up ahead.  "Look, ChibiBa!" he gasped.

      "Hah?" ChibiBa looked up.

      A few meters ahead of the pair was an open door, leading into a room full of light.

      "... What's that?" ChibiBa blinked, then darted towards the light.

      Takato ran after ChibiBa, ignoring how his feet ached in protest.  "I don't know, but it might be a way out," he said.

      "Tsssuuuuyooossaaa...  My Tamer... such a lovely name..."

      ChibiBa's eyes widened as he neared the light.  Takato started at the voice and willed himself to go faster.

      As ChibiBa and Takato neared the light, they found themselves back in the very same room that they had confronted Pandamon in.  And just like before, Pandamon was still in the room cuddling and stroking the crystal that held Tsuyosa's inert form.

      Oblivious to Takato and ChibiBa, Pandamon continued to tenderly touch Tsuyosa's outline through the crystal.  "Mmmm... such a perfect Tamer..." he sighed, lovingly.

      "Pandamon!" Takato yelled.  "Let Tsuyosa go right now!"

      Pandamon yelped, then whirled to stare.  "YOU-!?"

      ChibiBa growled, eyes narrowed, as he stalked forward.  "Get away from Tsu..."

      Pandamon blinked, then crossed his arms and huffed.  "I KNEW I should have sealed up that passage."

      "Now you're mine...," ChibiBa hissed.

      "Who ARE you, anyway?" Pandamon sniffed.  "Other than a reject?"

      "ONE ANGRY CHIBIBA!" ChibiBa shrieked as he lunged, kicking Pandamon in the head.

      Pandamon yelped as he flew back and crashed in to the crystal, shattering it like glass.  Shards flew everywhere, followed by the green bubbling liquid.  A loud gasp issued, followed by ragged coughing as Tsuyosa collapsed to his knees in the middle of the broken crystal.

      Pandamon sputtered, then glared dangerously at ChibiBa.  "... Now you've done it..." he hissed.  ChibiBa and Pandamon glared at each other, snarling.

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried as he quickly ran over to Tsuyosa.

      "I haven't even started!" ChibiBa snarled as he lunged to tackle Pandamon.  Pandamon darted out of the way, narrowly dodging ChibiBa's slash.

      Pandamon snarled, eyes glowing, then whirled and disappeared in to the shadows.  With a feral snarl, ChibiBa chased after as he momentarily forgot Tsuyosa in light of his ultimate doom revenge.

      Tsuyosa coughed and choked up the green fluid, dripping wet and shaking violently.

      Takato slid in the green liquid a bit as he ran over to Tsuyosa.  "Tsuyosa!" he cried again before kneeling down next to the other boy.  "Are you alright?"

      Tsuyosa shivered, then slowly looked up.  "...?"

      "Are you okay?" Takato repeated, a worried expression on his face.  "Did Pandamon hurt you?"

      "H-Hah...?" Tsuyosa blinked, then slowly glanced around.  "H-hah...!?"

      "Tsuyosa?  Are you alright?" Takato repeated yet again.

      "H-hah...!?" Tsuyosa stared at Takato, his expression slightly freaked.  His arms shot up to wrap around his chest as he scrambled back.  "HAH!?!"

      "Tsuyosa!"  Takato put his hands on Tsuyosa's shoulders in an effort to try to calm him.  "It's alright!  ChibiBa's taking care of the digimon that did this to you.  You're safe now."

      Tsuyosa yelped and scrambled away from Takato, slipping out of Takato's slight grip.  "GO AWAY!" he choked out, eyes wide and hysterical.  "JUST GO AWAY!"

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato blinked, confused at Tsuyosa's reaction.  "Are you okay?"

      "No...  NO!" Tsuyosa scrambled back, shivering uncontrollably.  "I've been punched, chased, forgotten, humiliated, and KIDNAPPED!  All in a matter of two days!  I'm cold, I'm wet...  My dad couldn't care less where I am or if I ever came home... and a giant Panda Digimon's STALKING me!  JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

      "Tsuyosa..."

      "NO!" Tsuyosa scrambled back, pointing at Takato.  "Don't!  Didn't I tell you not to look at me like that!?"

      Takato stood up slowly, uncertain as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "Tsuyosa...," he repeated and started to step closer to the panicked boy.

      "NO!" Tsuyosa snarled as he fumbled up and backed away.  "Don't come near me!  Just go away!  EVERYTHING just go away!"

      "It's okay now..."

      "No it's not okay!  IT'S NOT!"

      "I can't just leave you here," Takato said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

      "Get away from me!" Tsuyosa growled as he scrambled back, arms covering his chest as he shivered.

      Takato came to a halt as he stared at Tsuyosa helplessly.  "Tsuyosa..."

      Tsuyosa growled, then whirled and tried to run; he wasn't sure where, he just wanted to get far away from everything as he could.

      "Tsuyosa, wait!" Takato cried as he hurried to catch Tsuyosa before he ran away.

      Tsuyosa growled and glanced back, not looking where he was going, and squealed as he felt the ground slide from under him as he stepped on the sticky floor.

      "Tsu-," Takato started to cry, but ended up yowling in surprise as he ended up slipping as well.  Tsuyosa yelped as he hit the floor with a grunt, then blinked up just in time for Takato to crash in to him.

      Takato let out a groan of pain, and then his eyes widened as he realized he had fallen on top of Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa yelped as he struggled desperately, trying to get away from Takato and get up at the same time.

      "Sorry!" Takato yelped as he quickly got up off of Tsuyosa and scrambled to his feet.

      Tsuyosa fumbled up, blushed and quaking as his hands clenched in to fists.  "Just... GET... AWAY FROM ME!"

      With a hiss, Tsuyosa swung his fist at Takato.

      Takato gasped in surprise, not expecting the attack, and quickly brought up his arms to block it.  "Tsuyosa!" he cried, alarmed.

      "JUST GO AWAY!" Tsuyosa snarled as he took another swing at Takato, shaking violently as his cheeks flushed.

      Being more prepared for the next punch, Takato quickly ducked his head to the side, allowing Tsuyosa's fist to graze past his cheek, before he grabbed onto the other boy's wrist tightly.  "Tsuyosa, stop it!" Takato pleaded.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he yelped, then tried to swing at Takato once more with his free arm.  "LET GO!"

      Takato quickly repeated his previous actions, capturing Tsuyosa's other wrist in his hand as well.  "Tsuyosa, you're acting crazy!"

      Tsuyosa squirmed and tugged, trying to get his wrists free as he gasped for air.  "LET GO OF ME!"

      Takato frowned and carefully pushed Tsuyosa back against a nearby wall to try and cease his struggles.  "Tsuyosa, please stop it!"

      Tsuyosa struggled almost hysterically against Takato's grip, trying to twist his wrists free, but ultimately failed.  He collapsed, panting, and glared up at Takato with defiant and fearful eyes.

      "I can't...  I just can't...," he gasped.  "What now?  You're going to hit me now?  You said you won't, but why should I trust you?  I can't even trust my dad, so why should I trust you!?"

      "Tsuyosa...  I'm NOT going to hit you," Takato said firmly.  "I understand why you hate me.  You hate me because of all the things I have.  I understand now.  I want to be your friend!"

      Tsuyosa squirmed weakly, then leaned against the wall as he tensed his entire body and glared.  Fear darted across his face, despite his intentions to keep it hidden, as he realized how utterly helpless he was.  He gulped and tried to growl, though it didn't sound particularly threatening.  "Go ahead, then!  Do whatever it is you're going to do!"

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa piercingly as he pinned the other boy against the wall, holding his wrists slightly above his head.  He stared at him for a few long moments before he finally decided on what to do.  "... Okay then."

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as his stomach knotted.  He twitched, trying to back away from Takato as fear etched across his face quite visibly.  "What's that...?" he whispered, shakily, as he tried to remain defiant.

      "You want me to do something, so I'll do it," Takato said, his eyes piercing as he leaned in even more closely against Tsuyosa, completely pinning his body against the wall.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened in fear, which quickly turned into shock, as Takato leaned in...

      ...And kissed him.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.  "E-eh... did we lose... did we lose that freak?"

      Sera looked around as she caught her breath, seeing nothing but the dimly glowing crystals and darkness.  "I think so," she said.

      Impmon sighed with relief and massaged his temples.  "Good...," he grunted.  "That was freaky."

      "I'll say," Sera nodded.  "I would've thought evil digimon would rather kill than hug."

      "But what was up with that crystal?" Impmon blinked.

      "Dunno...," Sera shrugged.  "All I can think of is either it's because Tsuyosa's a Tamer, or because Pandamon liked how he looked floating in liquid instead of being frozen stiff."  She grimaced and suppressed a shiver as she recalled how scary Pandamon looked when he was caressing the crystal.

      "... But that would mean... that he has the hots for that kid," Impmon blinked.

      "... Is that even possible?" Sera blinked.  "... For a digimon to like a human in that way I mean."

      "Why not?" Impmon blinked.  "Digimon have feelings too."

      "I'm not saying that they don't," Sera hastily explained, a hint of a blush on her cheeks from embarrassment.  "I just meant...  I thought digimon only liked digimon... in a romantic, or in Pandamon's case, lustful, sense."

      Impmon blinked and itched his head.  "I never thought about it."  However, he was blushing when he said it.

      Sera shrugged as she rubbed the back of her head.  "Well, neither have I."

      Impmon coughed, to clear his throat, then looked around.  "... Now what?  Do we have to go back and make him release Ai and Mako-chan?" he muttered.

      Sera looked back the way they came, brows furrowed.  "I guess we have to..."  She glanced over at one of the crystals, and then down at Impmon.  "If they are fused into the crystals, then the only way to get them out safely is to find out how they got in there in the first place."

      "... But what if he tries to hug me again!?" Impmon muttered.

      "..."  Sera looked thoughtful as she searched through her pajama pockets for the cards she had brought.  "Maybe we can use these to intimidate him?" she asked, as she looked through her cards.

      "Intimidate a giant panda that molests crystals and hugs people?" Impmon seemed doubtful.  "Is that possible?"

      Sera shrugged helplessly.  "I don't know, but we have to at least try."  She then blinked as a thought occurred to her.  "... I wonder what happened to the others."

      "He's probably molesting them, too," Impmon snorted.  Sera shuddered at the thought.

      "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      "Hah?!" Impmon blinked and looked up, startled.

      The sudden cry was all the warning Impmon had before a large balloon came flying out of the darkness towards him.  Impmon yelped and dove out of the way, taking Sera with him as he tried to dodge the balloon.  The balloon crashed into the ground with a thunderous explosion, sending both Tamer and digimon flying despite it missing them.

      Impmon yelped as he hit the ground roughly, tumbling a few feet before he came to a complete stop.  Sera cried out in surprise at the attack and clung to Impmon tightly as they fell.

      "Darn, I missed!" Opossomon glowered as he floated down out of the darkness.

      Impmon shivered and slowly sat up, glancing at Sera.  "You okay...?"

      Sera nodded, somewhat shocked as she stared at the crater that had been created where they had been standing only moments before.  "Y-yeah...  Are you?" she asked as she glanced at Impmon.

      Impmon nodded, then glowered at Opossomon.  "What was that for!?" he demanded.

      "How CUTE," Opossomon snarled at the word and Impmon.  "I've got to make you look even uglier now!"

      "Huh?" Impmon blinked.

      Opossomon hopped in place after landing on the ground, glaring at Impmon hatefully.  "STOP BEING SO CUTE!" he roared.  "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      "Cute?  What are you-," Impmon yelped and lunged out of the way of the attack, flailing his arms.  "HEY!"

      Sera yelped and dove out of the way of another balloon as it rocketed past them.

      Impmon landed on his knees, grunting, then jerked up and glared at Opossomon.  "STOP THAT!"

      "YOU'RE TOO CUTE SO NOW I'LL MAKE YOU UNCUTE!" Opossomon declared as he launched another balloon at Impmon.  "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      Impmon squeaked and rolled to the side, the balloon zipping past him and disappearing in to the labyrinth.  Sera quickly hid behind an empty containment crystal to get out of the line of fire.

      "Oh, I see," Impmon sneered as he fumbled up.  "You're JEALOUS."

      "..."  Opossomon glared and hopped in place all the more agitated.  "I AM NOT JEALOUS!"

      "You're jealous that people think I'm cute!" Impmon smirked as he put his claws on his hips.

      "You might be sickeningly cute, but I'm NOT JEALOUS!" Opossomon glared at Impmon.  "I'll make you look so ugly NO ONE will think you're cute anymore!"

      Impmon blinked cutely, then tilted his head.  "So you admit I'm cuter than YOU?"

      "..."  Opossomon seemed to radiate hatred as he glared at Impmon.  "NO ONE IS CUTER THAN ME!!!"

      "Except me."

      "..."  Opossomon snarled, his balloons seeming to glare at Impmon with just as much hatred as Opossomon.  "I'LL KILL YOU!!!  MAD BALLOON BOMBS!!!"  Opossomon then launched all of the balloons in his paws at Impmon.

      Impmon's eyes widened and he dove behind a mound of empty containment crystals, covering his head.  "EEEE!"

      "IMPMON!" Sera's eyes widened as she saw all of the balloon bombs launching at Impmon, realizing that even with those crystals blocking, he wouldn't survive the explosion.  Quickly she selected one of her cards and slashed it through her D-Arc.

      Suddenly, a large shield appeared in front of Impmon.  Impmon blinked, then squealed as the crystals shattered like glass.  However, the shield held as the balloons exploded against it, spitting an inferno about him.

      Opossomon giggled insanely as he saw the explosion hit, confident he had deleted Impmon.  His laughter was short-lived, however, as he saw the large shield once the smoke had cleared.  "Huh?!" he blinked, surprised.

      Impmon blinked through his shield, then smirked evilly.

      "I'm still cuter."

      Opossomon growled, practically foaming at the mouth with anger, as he stomped his feet.  "NO FAIR!  NO FAIR!" he bellowed.

      "Nyaaaaah!"  Impmon stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief as Impmon seemed to be okay, and then quickly looked through her cards as she realized that she would probably have to use another one right away.

      "..."  Opossomon snarled as he took off his hat and pulled out a few dozen balloons from within it.  "I'LL GET YOU YET!" he roared as he hopped into the air and used his balloons to float above Impmon.

      "I can understand why you'd be JEALOUS of me," Impmon shrugged, smirking.  "I'm just so cool... and so, naturally, you'd want to be me."

      "I HATE YOU!" Opossomon snarled.

      "It must be so hard to be YOU," Impmon sighed, mockingly.

      Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Opossomon started to smile and giggled in a way that didn't sound at all sane.

      "... Eh?" Impmon blinked.

      "I know how to kill you!" Opossomon sang as he popped one of his balloons with a claw.  A tiny purple crystal fell from the burst balloon and dropped into his paw.  "I have Tamers tooooooo."

      Impmon blinked slowly.  "Huh?"

      With a smirk, Opossomon held up the small crystal into the air.  "MOON PRISM POWER... MAKE UP!" he cried as the crystal began to glow brightly.

      Impmon stared.  "... Eh?"

      Sera blinked, wondering what Opossomon was up to.

      Suddenly all of the nearby crystals that contained children started to glow brilliantly.  Their light became directed towards the crystal Opossomon held, causing it to glow even brighter.  After a few seconds the glow disappeared, leaving behind no apparent affect.

      "... What was that!?" Impmon demanded.

      "I've got the power!" Opossomon cackled evilly as his balloons grew to twice their previous size.  "Mad Balloon Bomb!"  He flung one of the newly enlarged balloons at Impmon with a wicked smirk.

      Impmon yelped and ducked behind his shield.  The shield flashed violently as the balloon hit it, exploding with a brilliant light.  Impmon squeaked as he went tumbling, the shield literally disintegrating under the full impact.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried in alarm.

      "My Tamers're better than your Tamer," Opossomon sang mockingly.

      "They're not your Tamers," Impmon sneered.  "They're prisoners!  So it's not the same, you uncute freak!"

      Opossomon blew Impmon a raspberry as he pulled down one eyelid.  "Now who's jealous?" he mocked.

      "Jealous of what?" Impmon purred.  "You're obviously compensating for the fact that you just can't be cuter than me."

      Opossomon's fur bristled as he glared at Impmon.  "YOU'RE NOT CUTER THAN ME!" he roared.  "I'LL PROVE IT BY KILLING YOU!"

      "Now who's jealous?" Impmon sang, in direct imitation of Opossomon.

      Opossomon landed onto the ground with a snarl, and flung all of his balloons at Impmon.  "MAD BALLOON BOMBS!" he roared.

      Impmon blinked, then yelped and scrambled back as the balloons sailed towards him.

      "IMPMON!!!" Sera screamed in horror.  She could only watch helplessly as she knew none of the cards she had could help Impmon avoid or defend against such a strong attack.

      Suddenly, the D-Arc in Sera's hand began to glow with a bright golden light.  Impmon brought up his arms in a yelp as he started to glow as well, seconds before the balloons impacted.

      Opossomon cackled as he danced in place as he watched the resulting massive explosion.  "Who's cuter now?" he sang mockingly.

      Smoke billowed up as the light slowly dimmed, revealing a charred crater in the ground.  In the middle of the crater, crouched and shielding himself with his arms, was Beelzebumon.

      Sera stared at the crater, her eyes wide in shock.  "I-Impmon?" she gasped, disbelieving.

      Beelzebumon peered out from over his arms, his wings arched protectively, and blinked.  He paused, then looked at himself to see if he was still alive.  Once he was sure that his body was still intact, Beelzebumon let out a deep laugh.  "Heh, gonna hafta try harder than that!" he sneered.

      Opossomon immediately halted in his victory celebration as he heard the laugh.  He turned to face Beelzebumon, blinking repeatedly.  "Huh!?"  Opossomon stared, as he looked Beelzebumon up and down, eyes incredibly wide.  "Evolution?" he squeaked.

      Suddenly Opossomon smiled brightly and clasped his paws together.  "YAY!" he cheered happily.

      "Yep, I-eh?!" Beelzebumon paused, then stared at Opossomon.

      "You're not cute anymore, so now I'M the cutest!" Opossomon crowed, cackling happily.  With a smile he waved to Beelzebumon.  "Bye, bye!"  He clasped his paws together.  "Mystery Orb!"  A small black orb suddenly appeared between his paws and grew to overtake him and his balloons.

      The orb then popped, and Opossomon was gone.

      Beelzebumon paused, blinking slowly, before he toppled over and twitched.

      "W-W-WHAT THE HELL-!"

      Sera blinked slowly at the entire exchange, but didn't do anything more than that as she couldn't stop staring at Beelzebumon, her cheeks a deep crimson color.

      Beelzebumon sat up and flailed, tail swishing about in irritation.  "SO YOU JUST _LEAVE_?!" he screamed.  "YOU TRY TO BLOW ME UP, THEN LEAVE AS IF IT NEVER HAPPENED!?" he roared, oblivious to Sera.  "GET BACK HERE!  OI!!!!  OOOOOOIIII!!!"

**_*~*_**

      "Now where are we?" Jenrya sighed, exasperated.

      "Not where we want to be, that's for sure," Terriermon muttered.

      Renamon nodded in agreement as she glanced around their current surroundings.

      They stood in the middle of a massive arena-like stage, with a colorful purple and red barrier creating the shape of a circle.  A bright light shone down in the circle, illuminating it, while nothing but darkness surrounded the outer areas.  The three of them stood at the very edge of the circle barrier, in front of a small break.

      "Is this a trap?" Renamon blinked.

      "Only if they plan on entertaining us to death," Terriermon teased.

      A soft chime issued through the room, melodic and gentle.

      The three tensed, as they looked around for the source of the sound, wary of an attack.

      The lights slowly dimmed low as two bright lights, one red and one purple, snapped on in to the center of the ring.  A slow, steady beat began to rumble through the arena as the chime issued once more.

      "What's going on?" Jenrya whispered.

      The lights paused, then started to swirl wildly around the ring.

      "I think we're about to find out," Renamon whispered tensely.

      As the lights swirled, the chime increased in volume before it stopped all together.  The lights paused again, then snapped back in to the middle of the arena.

      This time, however, there was someone there.

      Standing on a large black, purple, and red ball was Black Tailmon.  She wore red anklets and bracelets with large purple crystals on them, shimmering and reflecting the light.  A matching red collar rested on her neck, from which a large purple crystal dangled.  In addition, she wore a red belt completely covered with similar crystals, each glittering like a star, as a bra strap covered her chest with two crystals arranged in the shape of a heart.

      Black Tailmon stood on the ball, quiet and poised, as she held a black, purple, and red fan in each gloved paw.  Her tail swayed slightly as a purple crystal dangled off of it, chiming like a bell.

      "What the...," Jenrya blinked.

      "... Does this mean I was right?" Terriermon asked as he stared at Black Tailmon.

      Black Tailmon glanced over her shoulders, her gold eyes sparkling brilliantly as the crystals reflected the light to create small rainbows.

      "I don't have a good feeling about this," Renamon muttered, crouching slightly in anticipation of an attack.

      Black Tailmon lashed her tail again, the crystal chiming, before she started to twirl.  With expert movements, she twisted as she swirled the fans in a beautiful display while balancing perfectly on the ball.

      "Whoa...," Terriermon breathed as he stared, mesmerized by Black Tailmon's movements.

      The music slowly began to pick up as Black Tailmon danced, never once missing a beat as she somehow managed to balance on the ball and twirl about with her fans.  Each movement brought about a soft chime and a flash of prismatic color, creating miniature rainbows across the arena.

      Jenrya and Terriermon stared at Black Tailmon in awe, never once taking their eyes off of her.  Renamon watched Black Tailmon suspiciously, her arms crossing.

      Slowly and seductively, Black Tailmon swerved about the arena in an exotic dance as the fans and crystals accented every movement.

      With a snap of her tail, Black Tailmon did a flip and somehow managed to not only land on the ball smoothly, but also match the beat perfectly.

      "If this is a trap, it's the best trap we've ever been in," Terriermon quipped quietly, not daring to speak too loud so as to not disturb Black Tailmon's dance.

      Renamon eyed Terriermon, and then snorted disdainfully.  Terriermon didn't notice, as he was too busy staring at Black Tailmon.

      Black Tailmon continued to twist and twirl artfully, the song starting to increase its beat to an almost fevered pitch as her movements increased in speed to match.  She swiveled her hips and brushed her fans along her chest suggestively, a seductive smirk on her face.

      Black Tailmon glanced over her shoulder, her eyes sparkling and almost seemed to give the impression that they were glowing.

      "Wow," Terriermon breathed.  "She's good.  Don't you think, Jen?"

      Jenrya didn't reply; he only stared at Black Tailmon, his eyes glazed.

      Renamon paused, and then narrowed her eyes.  "..."

      Black Tailmon purred quietly as she swirled, brushing the fan against her hips, chest, and face as she danced to the beat while skillfully controlling the ball with her feet.

      "... Something's not right...," Renamon whispered.

      Black Tailmon twisted about in another flip, then twirled her fan in an almost beckoning fashion before she twisted about and lashed her tail, the chime echoing.

      Almost drawn by some unknown force, Jenrya started to walk towards Black Tailmon, entranced.

      "... What's happening?" Renamon hissed.

      "Wha-?!" Terriermon blinked, startled.  "Jen, what're you doing?"

      Jenrya didn't reply as he continued to walk towards Black Tailmon, a dreamy look on his face and his eyes glazed.

      Black Tailmon twirled around elegantly as the music turned almost frantic, the rainbow prisms bouncing off her skin and Jenrya's face as the crystals chimed.

      "Jen?  JEN!" Terriermon shouted into Jenrya's ear as he tugged on his Tamer's hair.  "Can you hear me?!"

      Jenrya didn't react to Terriermon's attempts at gaining his attention; he only continued to walk towards Black Tailmon in a daze.

      Black Tailmon slowly began to cease, arching her back and twirling the fans suggestively before she pointed them at Jenrya in an almost welcoming gesture.

      "What-!?" Renamon crouched.

      Slowly, Black Tailmon crossed her arms as she seemed to draw herself taller.  Then, with a loud chime, she snapped her arms straight outwards and arched her back.  All of the crystals practically exploded with light, blinding everyone as it filled the room.

      "NO!" Renamon gasped as she covered her eyes.

      "JEN!" Terriermon cried as he was forced to cover his eyes.

      As the light died down to a dull glow, Black Tailmon tilted her head and smirked.  A crystal container rested where Jenrya had previously stood, the human Tamer now trapped within with an almost peaceful expression on his face.

      "Nyar."


	12. Fatal Attraction (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: And here's where Dreaming to Reality takes a new turn and splits off into two chapter versions: a version with yaoi and a version without.  (For those of you that don't know, that means boy/boy romance.)  If you like that sort of thing, I suggest you go read the normal non-censored version.  If not, enjoy!  This version of the story has not been changed aside from cutting out all the yaoi references, so in essence they're still the same story, only with a little bit missing.  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and anyone else new along with this entire story belong to us!  No stealing!

Oh, as for the person who asked why Ruki and Renamon weren't using telepathy, I don't know where you got that idea from, since as far as Neon and me know, they don't have any such power in the series. o.O  I even checked over my collection of recordings and found nothing on it.  Also, we believe, Ai and Makoto were that bad; Toei just showed the PG version. 

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 11: Fatal Attraction_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "I think we're in trouble..."

      "I'll have to agree," Jenrya blinked slowly.  Renamon said nothing, glancing about.

      Their chase had come to a sudden end as they had found themselves in a large room, with no apparent way out.  This left the two digimon and Tamer cornered by the hundreds of X-Tyrannomon.

      "We have no choice but to fight," Renamon straightened up and glanced about, glowering.

      "Right," Jenrya nodded as he held up his D-Arc.  "Ready, Terriermon?"

      "Time to kick some butt!" Terriermon replied confidently.

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      A bright flash of green soon followed, blinding the X-Tyrannomon.

      "Terriermon evolve to..."

      The light flared up even more, causing the X-Tyrannomon to whimper and cover their eyes.  Renamon didn't respond, as if used to the whole process.

      "SAINT GALGOMON!" a giant voice thundered as the giant green terrier mecha digimon stood in the center of the room.

      The X-Tyrannomon paused and looked up at Saint Galgomon, dumbfounded.  They looked at each other, and then back at the giant Mega, before they all ran squealing.

      Renamon blinked, then tilted her head as the Ultimates ran for their lives away from the Mega.  "... How anti-climatic," she observed.

      Saint Galgomon blinked as the last of the Ultimates disappeared into the dark, before glowing green and changing back into Terriermon and Jenrya.  "Aww...  What a gyp!" Terriermon pouted.  "I wanted to kick their butts!"

      "Let's just hope they stay away," Jenrya muttered.

      "After seeing you evolve to Mega, chances are that they will," Renamon commented.

      In the shadows, Black Tailmon lashed her tail irritably and crossed her arms.  She wrinkled her nose in disgusted and lashed her tail even more as the group continued on their way.  "... Nyar... so much for the power of stupid people in large numbers," she hissed.  "Looks like I'll need to deal with this myself!"

**_*~*_**

      Takato grimaced as his feet were starting to hurt from all of the walking that he had been doing without shoes, but didn't complain aloud.  Despite how he was suffering for it now, if he had to do it all over again, he still would have given his sneakers to Tsuyosa when they were in the woods together.

      ChibiBa seemed fine, fueled by his inner determination to slaughter Pandamon most brutally.  He strode ahead, purposely, as he chuckled evilly.

      That was another reason that Takato didn't dare complain out loud.

      "Heh, heh... when I find him... I'm going to twist off his arms!" ChibiBa purred.  "SLOWLY."

      Takato sweat-dropped.  Ever since they had escaped from the spinning room, ChibiBa had been alternating between describing how he was going to hurt Pandamon and cackling maniacally.

      Takato blinked as he suddenly noticed a light up ahead.  "Look, ChibiBa!" he gasped.

      "Hah?" ChibiBa looked up.

      A few meters ahead of the pair was an open door, leading into a room full of light.

      "... What's that?" ChibiBa blinked, then darted towards the light.

      Takato ran after ChibiBa, ignoring how his feet ached in protest.  "I don't know, but it might be a way out," he said.

      "Tsssuuuuyooossaaa...  My Tamer... such a lovely name..."

      ChibiBa's eyes widened as he neared the light.  Takato started at the voice and willed himself to go faster.

      As ChibiBa and Takato neared the light, they found themselves back in the very same room that they had confronted Pandamon in.  And just like before, Pandamon was still in the room cuddling and stroking the crystal that held Tsuyosa's inert form.

      Oblivious to Takato and ChibiBa, Pandamon continued to tenderly touch Tsuyosa's outline through the crystal.  "Mmmm... such a perfect Tamer..." he sighed, lovingly.

      "Pandamon!" Takato yelled.  "Let Tsuyosa go right now!"

      Pandamon yelped, then whirled to stare.  "YOU-!?"

      ChibiBa growled, eyes narrowed, as he stalked forward.  "Get away from Tsu..."

      Pandamon blinked, then crossed his arms and huffed.  "I KNEW I should have sealed up that passage."

      "Now you're mine...," ChibiBa hissed.

      "Who ARE you, anyway?" Pandamon sniffed.  "Other than a reject?"

      "ONE ANGRY CHIBIBA!" ChibiBa shrieked as he lunged, kicking Pandamon in the head.

      Pandamon yelped as he flew back and crashed in to the crystal, shattering it like glass.  Shards flew everywhere, followed by the green bubbling liquid.  A loud gasp issued, followed by ragged coughing as Tsuyosa collapsed to his knees in the middle of the broken crystal.

      Pandamon sputtered, then glared dangerously at ChibiBa.  "... Now you've done it..." he hissed.  ChibiBa and Pandamon glared at each other, snarling.

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried as he quickly ran over to Tsuyosa.

      "I haven't even started!" ChibiBa snarled as he lunged to tackle Pandamon.  Pandamon darted out of the way, narrowly dodging ChibiBa's slash.

      Pandamon snarled, eyes glowing, then whirled and disappeared in to the shadows.  With a feral snarl, ChibiBa chased after as he momentarily forgot Tsuyosa in light of his ultimate doom revenge.

      Tsuyosa coughed and choked up the green fluid, dripping wet and shaking violently.

      Takato slid in the green liquid a bit as he ran over to Tsuyosa.  "Tsuyosa!" he cried again before kneeling down next to the other boy.  "Are you alright?"

      Tsuyosa shivered, then slowly looked up.  "...?"

      "Are you okay?" Takato repeated, a worried expression on his face.  "Did Pandamon hurt you?"

      "H-Hah...?" Tsuyosa blinked, then slowly glanced around.  "H-hah...!?"

      "Tsuyosa?  Are you alright?" Takato repeated yet again.

      "H-hah...!?" Tsuyosa stared at Takato, his expression slightly freaked.  His arms shot up to wrap around his chest as he scrambled back.  "HAH!?!"

      "Tsuyosa!"  Takato put his hands on Tsuyosa's shoulders in an effort to try to calm him.  "It's alright!  ChibiBa's taking care of the digimon that did this to you.  You're safe now."

      Tsuyosa yelped and scrambled away from Takato, slipping out of Takato's slight grip.  "GO AWAY!" he choked out, eyes wide and hysterical.  "JUST GO AWAY!"

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato blinked, confused at Tsuyosa's reaction.  "Are you okay?"

      "No...  NO!" Tsuyosa scrambled back, shivering uncontrollably.  "I've been punched, chased, forgotten, humiliated, and KIDNAPPED!  All in a matter of two days!  I'm cold, I'm wet...  My dad couldn't care less where I am or if I ever came home... and a giant Panda Digimon's STALKING me!  JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

      "Tsuyosa..."

      "NO!" Tsuyosa scrambled back, pointing at Takato.  "Don't!  Didn't I tell you not to look at me like that!?"

      Takato stood up slowly, uncertain as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "Tsuyosa...," he repeated and started to step closer to the panicked boy.

      "NO!" Tsuyosa snarled as he fumbled up and backed away.  "Don't come near me!  Just go away!  EVERYTHING just go away!"

      "It's okay now..."

      "No it's not okay!  IT'S NOT!"

      "I can't just leave you here," Takato said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

      "Get away from me!" Tsuyosa growled as he scrambled back, arms covering his chest as he shivered.

      Takato came to a halt as he stared at Tsuyosa helplessly.  "Tsuyosa..."

      Tsuyosa growled, then whirled and tried to run; he wasn't sure where, he just wanted to get far away from everything as he could.

      "Tsuyosa, wait!" Takato cried as he hurried to catch Tsuyosa before he ran away.

      Tsuyosa growled and glanced back, not looking where he was going, and squealed as he felt the ground slide from under him as he stepped on the sticky floor.

      "Tsu-," Takato started to cry, but ended up yowling in surprise as he ended up slipping as well.  Tsuyosa yelped as he hit the floor with a grunt, then blinked up just in time for Takato to crash in to him.

      Takato let out a groan of pain, and then his eyes widened as he realized he had fallen on top of Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa yelped as he struggled desperately, trying to get away from Takato and get up at the same time.

      "Sorry!" Takato yelped as he quickly got up off of Tsuyosa and scrambled to his feet.

      Tsuyosa fumbled up, blushed and quaking as his hands clenched in to fists.  "Just... GET... AWAY FROM ME!"

      With a hiss, Tsuyosa swung his fist at Takato.

      Takato gasped in surprise, not expecting the attack, and quickly brought up his arms to block it.  "Tsuyosa!" he cried, alarmed.

      "JUST GO AWAY!" Tsuyosa snarled as he took another swing at Takato, shaking violently as his cheeks flushed.

      Being more prepared for the next punch, Takato quickly ducked his head to the side, allowing Tsuyosa's fist to graze past his cheek, before he grabbed onto the other boy's wrist tightly.  "Tsuyosa, stop it!" Takato pleaded.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he yelped, then tried to swing at Takato once more with his free arm.  "LET GO!"

      Takato quickly repeated his previous actions, capturing Tsuyosa's other wrist in his hand as well.  "Tsuyosa, you're acting crazy!"

      Tsuyosa squirmed and tugged, trying to get his wrists free as he gasped for air.  "LET GO OF ME!"

      Takato frowned and carefully pushed Tsuyosa back against a nearby wall to try and cease his struggles.  "Tsuyosa, please stop it!"

      Tsuyosa struggled almost hysterically against Takato's grip, trying to twist his wrists free, but ultimately failed.  He collapsed, panting, and glared up at Takato with defiant and fearful eyes.

      "I can't...  I just can't...," he gasped.  "What now?  You're going to hit me now?  You said you won't, but why should I trust you?  I can't even trust my dad, so why should I trust you!?"

      "Tsuyosa...  I'm NOT going to hit you," Takato said firmly.  "I understand why you hate me.  You hate me because of all the things I have.  I understand now.  I want to be your friend!"

      Tsuyosa squirmed weakly, then leaned against the wall as he tensed his entire body and glared.  Fear darted across his face, despite his intentions to keep it hidden, as he realized how utterly helpless he was.  He gulped and tried to growl, though it didn't sound particularly threatening.  "Go ahead, then!  Do whatever it is you're going to do!"

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa piercingly as he pinned the other boy against the wall, holding his wrists slightly above his head.  He stared at him for a few long moments before he finally decided on what to do.  "... Okay then."

**_*~*_**

      Impmon collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.  "E-eh... did we lose... did we lose that freak?"

      Sera looked around as she caught her breath, seeing nothing but the dimly glowing crystals and darkness.  "I think so," she said.

      Impmon sighed with relief and massaged his temples.  "Good...," he grunted.  "That was freaky."

      "I'll say," Sera nodded.  "I would've thought evil digimon would rather kill than hug."

      "But what was up with that crystal?" Impmon blinked.

      "Dunno...," Sera shrugged.  "All I can think of is either it's because Tsuyosa's a Tamer, or because Pandamon liked how he looked floating in liquid instead of being frozen stiff."  She grimaced and suppressed a shiver as she recalled how scary Pandamon looked when he was caressing the crystal.

      "... But that would mean... that he has the hots for that kid," Impmon blinked.

      "... Is that even possible?" Sera blinked.  "... For a digimon to like a human in that way I mean."

      "Why not?" Impmon blinked.  "Digimon have feelings too."

      "I'm not saying that they don't," Sera hastily explained, a hint of a blush on her cheeks from embarrassment.  "I just meant...  I thought digimon only liked digimon... in a romantic, or in Pandamon's case, lustful, sense."

      Impmon blinked and itched his head.  "I never thought about it."  However, he was blushing when he said it.

      Sera shrugged as she rubbed the back of her head.  "Well, neither have I."

      Impmon coughed, to clear his throat, then looked around.  "... Now what?  Do we have to go back and make him release Ai and Mako-chan?" he muttered.

      Sera looked back the way they came, brows furrowed.  "I guess we have to..."  She glanced over at one of the crystals, and then down at Impmon.  "If they are fused into the crystals, then the only way to get them out safely is to find out how they got in there in the first place."

      "... But what if he tries to hug me again!?" Impmon muttered.

      "..."  Sera looked thoughtful as she searched through her pajama pockets for the cards she had brought.  "Maybe we can use these to intimidate him?" she asked, as she looked through her cards.

      "Intimidate a giant panda that molests crystals and hugs people?" Impmon seemed doubtful.  "Is that possible?"

      Sera shrugged helplessly.  "I don't know, but we have to at least try."  She then blinked as a thought occurred to her.  "... I wonder what happened to the others."

      "He's probably molesting them, too," Impmon snorted.  Sera shuddered at the thought.

      "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      "Hah?!" Impmon blinked and looked up, startled.

      The sudden cry was all the warning Impmon had before a large balloon came flying out of the darkness towards him.  Impmon yelped and dove out of the way, taking Sera with him as he tried to dodge the balloon.  The balloon crashed into the ground with a thunderous explosion, sending both Tamer and digimon flying despite it missing them.

      Impmon yelped as he hit the ground roughly, tumbling a few feet before he came to a complete stop.  Sera cried out in surprise at the attack and clung to Impmon tightly as they fell.

      "Darn, I missed!" Opossomon glowered as he floated down out of the darkness.

      Impmon shivered and slowly sat up, glancing at Sera.  "You okay...?"

      Sera nodded, somewhat shocked as she stared at the crater that had been created where they had been standing only moments before.  "Y-yeah...  Are you?" she asked as she glanced at Impmon.

      Impmon nodded, then glowered at Opossomon.  "What was that for!?" he demanded.

      "How CUTE," Opossomon snarled at the word and Impmon.  "I've got to make you look even uglier now!"

      "Huh?" Impmon blinked.

      Opossomon hopped in place after landing on the ground, glaring at Impmon hatefully.  "STOP BEING SO CUTE!" he roared.  "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      "Cute?  What are you-," Impmon yelped and lunged out of the way of the attack, flailing his arms.  "HEY!"

      Sera yelped and dove out of the way of another balloon as it rocketed past them.

      Impmon landed on his knees, grunting, then jerked up and glared at Opossomon.  "STOP THAT!"

      "YOU'RE TOO CUTE SO NOW I'LL MAKE YOU UNCUTE!" Opossomon declared as he launched another balloon at Impmon.  "MAD BALLOON BOMB!"

      Impmon squeaked and rolled to the side, the balloon zipping past him and disappearing in to the labyrinth.  Sera quickly hid behind an empty containment crystal to get out of the line of fire.

      "Oh, I see," Impmon sneered as he fumbled up.  "You're JEALOUS."

      "..."  Opossomon glared and hopped in place all the more agitated.  "I AM NOT JEALOUS!"

      "You're jealous that people think I'm cute!" Impmon smirked as he put his claws on his hips.

      "You might be sickeningly cute, but I'm NOT JEALOUS!" Opossomon glared at Impmon.  "I'll make you look so ugly NO ONE will think you're cute anymore!"

      Impmon blinked cutely, then tilted his head.  "So you admit I'm cuter than YOU?"

      "..."  Opossomon seemed to radiate hatred as he glared at Impmon.  "NO ONE IS CUTER THAN ME!!!"

      "Except me."

      "..."  Opossomon snarled, his balloons seeming to glare at Impmon with just as much hatred as Opossomon.  "I'LL KILL YOU!!!  MAD BALLOON BOMBS!!!"  Opossomon then launched all of the balloons in his paws at Impmon.

      Impmon's eyes widened and he dove behind a mound of empty containment crystals, covering his head.  "EEEE!"

      "IMPMON!" Sera's eyes widened as she saw all of the balloon bombs launching at Impmon, realizing that even with those crystals blocking, he wouldn't survive the explosion.  Quickly she selected one of her cards and slashed it through her D-Arc.

      Suddenly, a large shield appeared in front of Impmon.  Impmon blinked, then squealed as the crystals shattered like glass.  However, the shield held as the balloons exploded against it, spitting an inferno about him.

      Opossomon giggled insanely as he saw the explosion hit, confident he had deleted Impmon.  His laughter was short-lived, however, as he saw the large shield once the smoke had cleared.  "Huh?!" he blinked, surprised.

      Impmon blinked through his shield, then smirked evilly.

      "I'm still cuter."

      Opossomon growled, practically foaming at the mouth with anger, as he stomped his feet.  "NO FAIR!  NO FAIR!" he bellowed.

      "Nyaaaaah!"  Impmon stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief as Impmon seemed to be okay, and then quickly looked through her cards as she realized that she would probably have to use another one right away.

      "..."  Opossomon snarled as he took off his hat and pulled out a few dozen balloons from within it.  "I'LL GET YOU YET!" he roared as he hopped into the air and used his balloons to float above Impmon.

      "I can understand why you'd be JEALOUS of me," Impmon shrugged, smirking.  "I'm just so cool... and so, naturally, you'd want to be me."

      "I HATE YOU!" Opossomon snarled.

      "It must be so hard to be YOU," Impmon sighed, mockingly.

      Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Opossomon started to smile and giggled in a way that didn't sound at all sane.

      "... Eh?" Impmon blinked.

      "I know how to kill you!" Opossomon sang as he popped one of his balloons with a claw.  A tiny purple crystal fell from the burst balloon and dropped into his paw.  "I have Tamers tooooooo."

      Impmon blinked slowly.  "Huh?"

      With a smirk, Opossomon held up the small crystal into the air.  "MOON PRISM POWER... MAKE UP!" he cried as the crystal began to glow brightly.

      Impmon stared.  "... Eh?"

      Sera blinked, wondering what Opossomon was up to.

      Suddenly all of the nearby crystals that contained children started to glow brilliantly.  Their light became directed towards the crystal Opossomon held, causing it to glow even brighter.  After a few seconds the glow disappeared, leaving behind no apparent affect.

      "... What was that!?" Impmon demanded.

      "I've got the power!" Opossomon cackled evilly as his balloons grew to twice their previous size.  "Mad Balloon Bomb!"  He flung one of the newly enlarged balloons at Impmon with a wicked smirk.

      Impmon yelped and ducked behind his shield.  The shield flashed violently as the balloon hit it, exploding with a brilliant light.  Impmon squeaked as he went tumbling, the shield literally disintegrating under the full impact.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried in alarm.

      "My Tamers're better than your Tamer," Opossomon sang mockingly.

      "They're not your Tamers," Impmon sneered.  "They're prisoners!  So it's not the same, you uncute freak!"

      Opossomon blew Impmon a raspberry as he pulled down one eyelid.  "Now who's jealous?" he mocked.

      "Jealous of what?" Impmon purred.  "You're obviously compensating for the fact that you just can't be cuter than me."

      Opossomon's fur bristled as he glared at Impmon.  "YOU'RE NOT CUTER THAN ME!" he roared.  "I'LL PROVE IT BY KILLING YOU!"

      "Now who's jealous?" Impmon sang, in direct imitation of Opossomon.

      Opossomon landed onto the ground with a snarl, and flung all of his balloons at Impmon.  "MAD BALLOON BOMBS!" he roared.

      Impmon blinked, then yelped and scrambled back as the balloons sailed towards him.

      "IMPMON!!!" Sera screamed in horror.  She could only watch helplessly as she knew none of the cards she had could help Impmon avoid or defend against such a strong attack.

      Suddenly, the D-Arc in Sera's hand began to glow with a bright golden light.  Impmon brought up his arms in a yelp as he started to glow as well, seconds before the balloons impacted.

      Opossomon cackled as he danced in place as he watched the resulting massive explosion.  "Who's cuter now?" he sang mockingly.

      Smoke billowed up as the light slowly dimmed, revealing a charred crater in the ground.  In the middle of the crater, crouched and shielding himself with his arms, was Beelzebumon.

      Sera stared at the crater, her eyes wide in shock.  "I-Impmon?" she gasped, disbelieving.

      Beelzebumon peered out from over his arms, his wings arched protectively, and blinked.  He paused, then looked at himself to see if he was still alive.  Once he was sure that his body was still intact, Beelzebumon let out a deep laugh.  "Heh, gonna hafta try harder than that!" he sneered.

      Opossomon immediately halted in his victory celebration as he heard the laugh.  He turned to face Beelzebumon, blinking repeatedly.  "Huh!?"  Opossomon stared, as he looked Beelzebumon up and down, eyes incredibly wide.  "Evolution?" he squeaked.

      Suddenly Opossomon smiled brightly and clasped his paws together.  "YAY!" he cheered happily.

      "Yep, I-eh?!" Beelzebumon paused, then stared at Opossomon.

      "You're not cute anymore, so now I'M the cutest!" Opossomon crowed, cackling happily.  With a smile he waved to Beelzebumon.  "Bye, bye!"  He clasped his paws together.  "Mystery Orb!"  A small black orb suddenly appeared between his paws and grew to overtake him and his balloons.

      The orb then popped, and Opossomon was gone.

      Beelzebumon paused, blinking slowly, before he toppled over and twitched.

      "W-W-WHAT THE HELL-!"

      Sera blinked slowly at the entire exchange, but didn't do anything more than that as she couldn't stop staring at Beelzebumon, her cheeks a deep crimson color.

      Beelzebumon sat up and flailed, tail swishing about in irritation.  "SO YOU JUST _LEAVE_?!" he screamed.  "YOU TRY TO BLOW ME UP, THEN LEAVE AS IF IT NEVER HAPPENED!?" he roared, oblivious to Sera.  "GET BACK HERE!  OI!!!!  OOOOOOIIII!!!"

**_*~*_**

      "Now where are we?" Jenrya sighed, exasperated.

      "Not where we want to be, that's for sure," Terriermon muttered.

      Renamon nodded in agreement as she glanced around their current surroundings.

      They stood in the middle of a massive arena-like stage, with a colorful purple and red barrier creating the shape of a circle.  A bright light shone down in the circle, illuminating it, while nothing but darkness surrounded the outer areas.  The three of them stood at the very edge of the circle barrier, in front of a small break.

      "Is this a trap?" Renamon blinked.

      "Only if they plan on entertaining us to death," Terriermon teased.

      A soft chime issued through the room, melodic and gentle.

      The three tensed, as they looked around for the source of the sound, wary of an attack.

      The lights slowly dimmed low as two bright lights, one red and one purple, snapped on in to the center of the ring.  A slow, steady beat began to rumble through the arena as the chime issued once more.

      "What's going on?" Jenrya whispered.

      The lights paused, then started to swirl wildly around the ring.

      "I think we're about to find out," Renamon whispered tensely.

      As the lights swirled, the chime increased in volume before it stopped all together.  The lights paused again, then snapped back in to the middle of the arena.

      This time, however, there was someone there.

      Standing on a large black, purple, and red ball was Black Tailmon.  She wore red anklets and bracelets with large purple crystals on them, shimmering and reflecting the light.  A matching red collar rested on her neck, from which a large purple crystal dangled.  In addition, she wore a red belt completely covered with similar crystals, each glittering like a star, as a bra strap covered her chest with two crystals arranged in the shape of a heart.

      Black Tailmon stood on the ball, quiet and poised, as she held a black, purple, and red fan in each gloved paw.  Her tail swayed slightly as a purple crystal dangled off of it, chiming like a bell.

      "What the...," Jenrya blinked.

      "... Does this mean I was right?" Terriermon asked as he stared at Black Tailmon.

      Black Tailmon glanced over her shoulders, her gold eyes sparkling brilliantly as the crystals reflected the light to create small rainbows.

      "I don't have a good feeling about this," Renamon muttered, crouching slightly in anticipation of an attack.

      Black Tailmon lashed her tail again, the crystal chiming, before she started to twirl.  With expert movements, she twisted as she swirled the fans in a beautiful display while balancing perfectly on the ball.

      "Whoa...," Terriermon breathed as he stared, mesmerized by Black Tailmon's movements.

      The music slowly began to pick up as Black Tailmon danced, never once missing a beat as she somehow managed to balance on the ball and twirl about with her fans.  Each movement brought about a soft chime and a flash of prismatic color, creating miniature rainbows across the arena.

      Jenrya and Terriermon stared at Black Tailmon in awe, never once taking their eyes off of her.  Renamon watched Black Tailmon suspiciously, her arms crossing.

      Slowly and seductively, Black Tailmon swerved about the arena in an exotic dance as the fans and crystals accented every movement.

      With a snap of her tail, Black Tailmon did a flip and somehow managed to not only land on the ball smoothly, but also match the beat perfectly.

      "If this is a trap, it's the best trap we've ever been in," Terriermon quipped quietly, not daring to speak too loud so as to not disturb Black Tailmon's dance.

      Renamon eyed Terriermon, and then snorted disdainfully.  Terriermon didn't notice, as he was too busy staring at Black Tailmon.

      Black Tailmon continued to twist and twirl artfully, the song starting to increase its beat to an almost fevered pitch as her movements increased in speed to match.  She swiveled her hips and brushed her fans along her chest suggestively, a seductive smirk on her face.

      Black Tailmon glanced over her shoulder, her eyes sparkling and almost seemed to give the impression that they were glowing.

      "Wow," Terriermon breathed.  "She's good.  Don't you think, Jen?"

      Jenrya didn't reply; he only stared at Black Tailmon, his eyes glazed.

      Renamon paused, and then narrowed her eyes.  "..."

      Black Tailmon purred quietly as she swirled, brushing the fan against her hips, chest, and face as she danced to the beat while skillfully controlling the ball with her feet.

      "... Something's not right...," Renamon whispered.

      Black Tailmon twisted about in another flip, then twirled her fan in an almost beckoning fashion before she twisted about and lashed her tail, the chime echoing.

      Almost drawn by some unknown force, Jenrya started to walk towards Black Tailmon, entranced.

      "... What's happening?" Renamon hissed.

      "Wha-?!" Terriermon blinked, startled.  "Jen, what're you doing?"

      Jenrya didn't reply as he continued to walk towards Black Tailmon, a dreamy look on his face and his eyes glazed.

      Black Tailmon twirled around elegantly as the music turned almost frantic, the rainbow prisms bouncing off her skin and Jenrya's face as the crystals chimed.

      "Jen?  JEN!" Terriermon shouted into Jenrya's ear as he tugged on his Tamer's hair.  "Can you hear me?!"

      Jenrya didn't react to Terriermon's attempts at gaining his attention; he only continued to walk towards Black Tailmon in a daze.

      Black Tailmon slowly began to cease, arching her back and twirling the fans suggestively before she pointed them at Jenrya in an almost welcoming gesture.

      "What-!?" Renamon crouched.

      Slowly, Black Tailmon crossed her arms as she seemed to draw herself taller.  Then, with a loud chime, she snapped her arms straight outwards and arched her back.  All of the crystals practically exploded with light, blinding everyone as it filled the room.

      "NO!" Renamon gasped as she covered her eyes.

      "JEN!" Terriermon cried as he was forced to cover his eyes.

      As the light died down to a dull glow, Black Tailmon tilted her head and smirked.  A crystal container rested where Jenrya had previously stood, the human Tamer now trapped within with an almost peaceful expression on his face.

      "Nyar."


	13. No Need for Cuteness

Authors' Notes: Time again for another chapter, one with and one without yaoi goodness!  In case you selected the wrong one, this is the one with the shonen ai (boy/boy love) in it.  If you meant to go to the yaoi-free one, then flee in terror now from the boy/boy romance!  Otherwise, enjoy!  As always, Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us!  No stealing!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 12: No Need for Cuteness**

***~***

      Tsuyosa shivered uncontrollably, his eyes wide with shock as his mind tried to process what was happening to him.  He could feel Takato pressed up against his body, the other boy's body heat slowly seeping in to his own.

      Takato was kissing him; the very idea seemed to blow his mind.  Why was Takato, of all people, kissing him?

      As Tsuyosa's mind reeled at the very thought, he felt his shivering slow to a dull quiver.

      Tsuyosa's eyes glazed slightly as his tense body started to relax, no longer struggling or resisting Takato.  His mind simply blanked out, leaving him defenseless to Takato's new form of assault.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes and went limp against Takato, surrendering to the kiss.  The last coherent thought to pass through Tsuyosa's mind was that the experience was surprisingly enjoyable; Takato's taste, sweet and tender but spicy, was oddly addicting.

      Unconsciously, a small mewl slipped out of Tsuyosa as his fingers gently curled.  Takato trembled slightly against Tsuyosa, as the sound seemed to vibrate through his body in delicious ways.

      The kiss almost seemed to last an eternity, and yet it seemed all too soon when it finally did end as Takato pulled himself away from Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa gasped for air, his eyes closed and cheeks gently blushing.  After a few minutes of silence, he slowly opened his eyes to look at Takato.

      Takato panted heavily, his heart racing; as his red eyes stared into Tsuyosa's pale blue ones deeply.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly before his eyes dropped slightly as his blush deepened to a candy apple crimson.  "..."

      Slowly, Takato let go of Tsuyosa's wrists, allowing his arms to drop.  "Tsu-Tsuyosa... I...," Takato whispered breathlessly, his cheeks flushed.

      Tsuyosa's arms dropped, dangling by his sides without any resistance.  He simply blushed, gasping for air.  "..."

      Slowly, Tsuyosa brought up his arms to cover his chest and blushed, looking at Takato with a sudden shy composure.

      Takato tried to continue speaking, but he found that words failed him.

      "... T-Takato...," Tsuyosa began weakly as he slowly lifted a trembling hand to touch Takato's face, as if he didn't believe he was there.  "... I..."

      Takato blinked, surprised at the action.  Once over the initial surprise, however, he closed his eyes and leaned into Tsuyosa's tender touch, enjoying the feeling.  "Tsuyosa...," he whispered.

      "GRRAAAAAARRRR!!!"

      Tsuyosa jumped, startled, as his eyes snapped open.  Takato started and whirled towards the cry, eyes wide.

      Seconds later, a black and silver figure lunged and tackled Takato with a snarl and a hiss of rage.  Takato cried out in shock and fear as his assailant tackled him.  ChibiBa clung to Takato's chest, pinning him to the floor and snarling down at him like a rabid beast as his eyes blazed red.

      "C-ChibiBa?!" Takato squeaked in alarm, eyes wide with fear.

      "ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa squeaked.  "What-?!"

      "How dare you take advantage of Tsuuuuuuu...," ChibiBa snarled, lips curled up in a feral growl.

      "I-I didn't!" Takato yelped as he struggled in vain to get away from ChibiBa.  "I didn't hurt him!"

      "ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa lunged and scooped up his Digimon, who squirmed and tried to grab Takato.  "ChibiBa, I'm okay!"

      ChibiBa shook violently and curled up in Tsuyosa's arms, his expression of utter anger and hatred as he clung to Tsuyosa's arm possessively.

      Takato shakily stood up and backed away a couple of steps as he eyed ChibiBa warily.

      "ChibiBa... calm down...  I'm all right, he didn't... he didn't hurt me...," Tsuyosa blushed.

      However, Tsuyosa's words seemed to have the exact opposite effect as ChibiBa snapped his jaws together.  Takato paled and took another step back from ChibiBa at his display of hostility.

      "ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened.  "What's... what's wrong?  Are you mad at me?"

      ChibiBa's eyes widened and all of his rage seemed to disappear in an instant, as if Tsuyosa's words were like a splash of cold water.  ChibiBa let out a squeak and twisted about to hug Tsuyosa around the neck.  "No, no!" ChibiBa yelped.  "Never!  I'd never be mad at you!"

      Tsuyosa relaxed and held ChibiBa close, shaking.  "ChibiBa... you scared me...," he whispered.  ChibiBa narrowed his eyes, then nuzzled Tsuyosa's neck gently.

      "I'm sorry...  I won't scare you again...," he muttered.

      Takato let out a sigh of relief and cautiously approached Tsuyosa and ChibiBa, still wary of the diminutive Mega's wrath.  "What did I do to make you so angry?" Takato couldn't help but ask cautiously.

      ChibiBa glanced over his shoulder to fix Takato with a glare, his cheek twitching.  "I don't want to talk about it."

      Takato tensed at the glare, and quickly decided that it'd be safer for him to just drop the subject.  "... What happened to Pandamon?" he asked after a minute or so.

      "...!"  ChibiBa slapped his forehead.

      "Pandamon?" Tsuyosa's face grew pale.  "That creature that was stalking me!?"

      Takato nodded to Tsuyosa, frowning slightly.  "Yeah," he said and then he looked at ChibiBa again.  "What happened?  Did he run away?"

      "... I got distracted," came the curt response.

      "Distracted?" Tsuyosa blinked, innocently.  "Distracted by wha-EEEEP!"

      ChibiBa blinked and looked up, then snarled.  Standing in the shadows, eyes glowing almost demonically, was Pandamon.

      Takato blinked and whirled to stare at Pandamon.  "Pandamon!" he gasped.

      Pandamon narrowed his eyes and sneered, his scarf blowing in an invisible wind behind him.

      Tsuyosa shifted, fearfully, as he shivered.  "... What..."

      "Hmmm, don't worry Tsu-chan...," Pandamon crooned.  "I'll deal with them...  Don't be frightened."

      "..."  ChibiBa hissed.  "You have no right to call him that!"

      Takato narrowed his eyes at Pandamon and boldly moved to stand between Tsuyosa and the Ultimate.  "I'm not letting you touch Tsuyosa again!" Takato declared defiantly.

      "Hmmmm," Pandamon smirked, then put his paws on his hips.  "I'll have to get rid of you then."

      "I'll defend Tsu!" ChibiBa hissed.

      "Hmmm," Pandamon said, once more, before he looked at the ground.  "Do you know where you're standing?"

      "... Huh?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "..."

      "Another trap door?!" Takato gasped.

      "Bingo," Pandamon smirked as he pulled a lever.

      ChibiBa flailed as Tsuyosa let out a squeak, the two plummeting as the floor gave way.

      "Not again!" Takato cried out as he fell into the dark.

      ChibiBa snarled up at Pandamon as he fell, who peered down after them.

      "THERE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THREE TRAP DOORS!"

***~***

      "WHAT kind of COWARD just DISAPPEARS like that!?" Beelzebumon growled as he stomped his foot.  "You saw, right?  He left because I was going to win, RIGHT?"

      Sera nodded mutely, as she still couldn't speak; it was about all she had been doing during Beelzebumon's entire tirade of insults against the absent Opossomon.

      "RIGHT!" Beelzebumon seemed pleased.  "Of course!  He ran because I was going to win!"

      Again Sera nodded, her cheeks tinged red.

      "Baaa~!"

      Beelzebumon blinked, then glanced down at the floor in confusion.

      Sitting on its haunches, staring directly up at Beelzebumon, was Sheepmon.  It tilted its head to the side as it peered up curiously at the large Mega.  "Baaa~!" it repeated.

      Sera blinked and seemed to snap out of her stupor, and turned to look at Sheepmon curiously.  "A Sheepmon?" she blinked.

      Beelzebumon blinked slowly.

      "... Oi, do you work here?"

      "Baaa~!"

      "Then you're friends with that coward!"  Beelzebumon grabbed Sheepmon by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up.  "I got a bone to pick with you!"

      "BAAA~!" Sheepmon bleated as it struggled wildly to get away.

      "Heh, heh," Beelzebumon held Sheepmon up to his face.  "Now then..."

      Sheepmon's eyes widened as it broke out into a cold sweat.  "BAAA~!!!" it bleated fearfully.

      Suddenly a loud explosion ensued as Sheepmon spontaneously combusted.

      Beelzebumon's eyes snapped open in alarm and confusion as the ensuing explosion hit him dead on.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried out in alarm.

      "BAAAAAA~!!!"

      Sheepmon flew upwards with a bleat, piercing the tent ceiling before it disappeared from sight.

      Back in the crater the exploding Digimon left, Beelzebumon blinked slowly.  He looked highly charred and burnt, with his jacket smoking slightly.

      Beelzebumon tilted his head and coughed out a puff of smoke before he started patting his clothes to put the fire out.

      "Impmon, are you alright?" Sera asked worriedly as she rushed over to Beelzebumon.

      "I'm just toasty," Beelzebumon replied as he patted his jacket.  "And it's Beelzebumon."

***~***

      "Dude, aren't you done in there YET?!"

      The muffled sound of retching was Hirokazu's only reply from within the port-a-potty.

      "That's just sad," Hirokazu sighed as he leaned against Guardromon.

      "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!"

      "Pipi?" Marine Angemon chirped as he tilted his head, looking up towards the sky.

      Hirokazu blinked and looked up just as something white, fluffy, and smoking slammed in to the port-a-potty, creating a massive hole.

      "GAAAH!" Kenta screamed from inside the port-a-potty before scrambling out of it, falling over onto his back in his haste.

      "Oh dear!  Are we under attack?!" Guardromon gasped in alarm.

      "BaaaAaaaAaaa..." came the unsteady, dazed reply from within the port-a-potty.

      "Kenta!  You okay, man!?" Hirokazu darted over to his downed friend.

      "I think so...," Kenta moaned with a grimace on his face.  "It almost crashed down onto my head!" he squealed.

      "What IS it?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon said eloquently.

      "... That's a lot of help."  Hirokazu glowered at the miniature Mega.

      Marine Angemon blinked innocently at Hirokazu, looking adorable.

      "He said 'Sheepmon'," Kenta translated as he got to his feet.

      "Dude, how can you even understand one 'pipi' from the next?" Hirokazu asked as he arched a brow at Kenta.

      "I don't know," Kenta shrugged helplessly.  "Maybe it's just because we're partners."

      Another dizzy bleat issued as Sheepmon slumped through the doorway, wobbling and disoriented.

      "Baaa...?"

      "... That's it?" Hirokazu blinked.  Sheepmon looked up at the Tamers, blinking.

      "Baaaa~?"

      "I say, you're not one of the villains of this circus, are you?" Guardromon asked Sheepmon.

      "Baaaaaaa~!"

      Sheepmon shook his head vigorously, then turned and bolted.

      "Huh?" Hirokazu blinked.  "... Well.  That digimon was even crazier than Ruki."

      "Crazier than Ruki," Guardromon agreed.

      "Hey, what did I say about using my lines?!" Hirokazu scowled.

      "BLEEEEUUUGH!"

      Hirokazu jumped, startled, and whirled to stare as Kenta turned an unhealthy shade of green and fell to his knees.

      "... Man, you're not done?" Hirokazu blinked.

      Kenta weekly shook his head before he started to retch onto the ground.

      "... Man, you're pathetic."

***~***

      "Nyaaar."

      Black Tailmon balanced on her ball, paws on her hips as she smiled seductively.

      "JEN!" Terriermon cried in alarm as he stared at the large purple crystal that encased his Tamer.

      "What did you do?" Renamon demanded.

      "I thought it was fairly obvious," Black Tailmon blinked.

      "You better let Jen go right now, or I'll whack ya into next Tuesday!" Terriermon shouted threateningly as he glared at Black Tailmon.

      "Oh?" Black Tailmon smirked and leaned forward.  "How do you intend to do that, my little Rookie?"

      "By kicking your butt!" Terriermon retorted, not intimidated in the slightest.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon snickered.  "You can't even evolve!"

      "I don't need to give you a whoopin'!"

      "Why won't you try it then?" Black Tailmon purred.  Renamon crouched and snarled, her eyes narrowing.

      "Be careful... she's a Champion...," Renamon grunted.

      "You don't have to tell me twice," Terriermon muttered.

      Black Tailmon smirked, then crouched as her tail let out another soft chime.

      Suddenly, Black Tailmon paused and looked upwards with a blink and a twitch of her ears.

      "EEEEEEEYAAAAAAAH!!!"

      Black Tailmon blinked as the ceiling opened up and three figures fell from the sky: two humans and a digimon.

      "Oh, company." Black Tailmon purred as Takato, Tsuyosa, and ChibiBa landed in a heap in front of her.

      "... Don't tell me... ANOTHER trap door?" Terriermon guessed as he looked over the three.

      Tsuyosa moaned as he rubbed his head, then blinked and blushed.  Tsuyosa's eyes widened, his cheeks flushed, as he noticed that he was straddling Takato's waist.

      ChibiBa had yet to notice, twitching on the floor nearby.

      Takato groaned in pain and opened his eyes, blinking slowly.  His eyes widened as he noticed Tsuyosa pinning him to the floor and couldn't help but blush violently.

      "..." Tsuyosa stared.

      "... Comfortable?" Black Tailmon tilted her head.

      Takato blushed even deeper at that comment.  "..."

      "... Not going to move, are you?" Black Tailmon tilted her head the other way.

      Tsuyosa blushed violently as he seemed totally frozen, unable to move.

      Renamon blinked slowly, then crossed her arms.  "Hm," she said, curiously.

      "U-Umm," Takato stammered, unable to move as Tsuyosa had him pinned to the floor.

      "I hate to break up your make out session, but we've got bigger problems right now," Terriermon commented as he pointed at the crystal containing Jenrya.

      ChibiBa moaned and blinked.

      Then, he noticed what was happening.

      With an indignant roar, ChibiBa snatched Tsuyosa away and kicked Takato in the side.

      Takato yowled and curled up, holding his pained side.  "W-What was that for?" he gasped.

      "YOOOOUUU-!" ChibiBa pointed at Takato, quivering, as he held Tsuyosa tightly.  Tsuyosa blinked, confused.

      "... Looks like someone's jealous," Terriermon commented as he eyed ChibiBa.

      "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" ChibiBa's eyes flashed.

      Tsuyosa was about to open his mouth to speak when he felt himself yanked backwards.  Tsuyosa squeaked in alarm, then squirmed violently.

      "Tssuuu-chaaaan...,"

      Tsuyosa paled and snapped his head about to stare, once again face to face with Pandamon.

      Pandamon held Tsuyosa close, smirking.  "I've got yoooou."

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried, and then quickly scrambled to his feet.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa whirled.  "DROP HIM, BEAR!"

      "NO, I don't think I will."  Pandamon pressed his nose against the back of Tsuyosa's head and took a deep breath, causing the boy to shiver.

      "STOP IT!" Takato yelled, enraged.  "Don't you DARE do anything to Tsuyosa!"

      "I'll kill you..." ChibiBa snarled, quivering.

      "Not before I kill you," Pandamon smirked.  He hold Tsuyosa close, taking another whiff, before he grabbed his scarf and tugged it off.  With expert speed, he tied Tsuyosa's arms and legs behind his back with the scarf, like a rodeo calf.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa crouched, then yelped as Black Tailmon's tail whipped his face sharply.

      "I'll help, boss," Black Tailmon purred.  "They irritate me anyway."

      "TSUYOSA!" Takato cried before glaring angrily at Pandamon.  "LET HIM GO!"

      "I'll kill you all," Pandamon purred.  "Especially you two."  Pandamon glanced sharply at ChibiBa and Takato.

      "No, stop!" Tsuyosa yelped, then squeaked as Pandamon gently dropped him to the floor.

      "Just hold on, Tsu-chan...  I'll deal with them!"  Pandamon beamed before he walked over to Black Tailmon, putting himself between Tsuyosa and the others.

      ChibiBa growled deeply, eyes narrowed.

      "You're insane...  An Ultimate and a Champion against two Rookies and a Mega?" Renamon snorted.

      "Maybe you should just save yourself the trouble and give up now," Terriermon quipped.

      "Nyar, we'll see...," Black Tailmon lashed her tail.  "We'll just have to see!"

      "They're right," Pandamon glanced at Black Tailmon, sneeringly.  "We should be worried, shouldn't we?"

      "No, I don't think so...," Black Tailmon crooned.  "He'll be too busy..."

      "... Busy, dear Black Tailmon?" Pandamon blinked innocently.

      "... Yes, busy...," Black Tailmon swung her hips.  "... Making sure the others don't die!"

      Suddenly, Black Tailmon whipped out her claw and slashed at Terriermon.  "NEKO PUNCH!" she hissed, claws glittering dangerously.

      Terriermon squeaked as Black Tailmon slashed him across the face, then proceeded to follow up the attack with a fury of swipes.

      "Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!"

      "Terriermon!" Renamon moved to help but let out a pained gasp as Pandamon lunged at her and slammed his own fist in to her stomach.

      "Bamboo Grass Punch!" Pandamon snarled as he hit Renamon in the stomach, sending her flying.

      "NEKO PUNCH!  NEKO PUNCH!  NEKO PUNCH!" Black Tailmon continued to claw at Terriermon violently until she flipped back and snapped her tail.

      "Terriermon!  Renamon!" Takato cried, feeling helpless.  Guilmon wasn't there so he couldn't help them.

      Terriermon moaned in pain as he held where he had gotten clawed.  He shook his head a bit and then glared at Black Tailmon before he started to spin.  "PETI-"

      "NEKO KICK!" she snarled, her leg whipping out.

      Before the blow could hit Terriermon, however, a small black form lunged in the way and took the force of the hit before retaliating with a slash.  Black Tailmon flipped and landed on her feet, wincing as a slash mark appeared on her leg.

      ChibiBa growled, glaring as he stood in front of Terriermon.

      While the attack never hit, the attempt and block was enough to distract Terriermon and disrupt his attack.

      Black Tailmon and Pandamon seemed to grin in union, somehow pleased at ChibiBa's actions.

      "What's so funny?" ChibiBa hissed, glowering.

      "I wonder... how long you can keep that up?" Black Tailmon tilted her head.

      "... Keep what up?"

      "THIS!" Pandamon whirled and lunged at Renamon again, who just stumbled to her feet.  "BAMBOO GRASS PUNCH!"

      ChibiBa yelped and darted in to Pandamon's way, taking the particularly deadly hit before it could pulverize the Rookie.

      "Neko Kick!" Black Tailmon hissed as she lunged at Terriermon once more.  ChibiBa growled and kicked Pandamon away, lunging to defend Terriermon once more.

      The Ultimate and Champion continued their hideous game with ChibiBa, knocking the Rookies about mercilessly while forcing the Mega to defend them without much chance of retaliation.  Renamon gasped in pain as she tried to dodge, though the Ultimate proved far too fast and powerful for her as she was.  Likewise, Black Tailmon proved very resourceful and as much a threat as Pandamon despite her level difference.

      ChibiBa darted back and forth, trying to stop the Ultimate Pandamon from ripping Renamon apart while darting back to stop Black Tailmon from using Terriermon as a scratching post.

      By the end, ChibiBa was gasping painfully on his feet as his entire body felt battered and sluggish.

      "ChibiBa-!" Tsuyosa whimpered, squirming.

      "Heh... heh...," Pandamon sneered, crouched.  "What good is a Mega that never gets a chance to attack?  Are you willing to sacrifice them in order to attack us?  If you stop, we'll kill them."

      "Nyaaaaar!" Black Tailmon purred, swaying slightly.

      "..."  ChibiBa bared his teeth and let out a wavering growl.

      "No!  Stop it!" Tsuyosa pleaded, but Pandamon ignored him.

      "Stop it!  This isn't fair!" Takato yelled, but his words too fell on deaf ears.

      "Don't worry about us, ChibiBa," Renamon said, hiding her pain admirably as she crouched.  "Just take care of yourself."

      "Yeah," Terriermon nodded, his voice laced with pain and determination.  "We're tougher than we look!"

      "Heh, admirable...," Pandamon crooned, then glowered and held up his fists. "But dead is still dead!"

      ChibiBa crouched, preparing to defend the two from the next attack irregardless of his own wounds.

      "TAKATOMON!"

      "Renamon!"

      Pandamon's eyes snapped open with surprise as Black Tailmon blinked and looked up.

      Everyone turned to look as Guilmon and Ruki came running out of the darkness towards the arena.

      "RUKI!" Renamon cried, relieved.

      "GUILMON!" Takato cried happily.

      "... A-ah?" ChibiBa stared, almost uncomprehending as a little blood trailed down the corner of his mouth.

      "Alright!" Terriermon cheered, then smirked at Pandamon and Black Tailmon.  "You're in for it now!"

      "Ruki!" Renamon repeated, happily.

      "All right, Renamon!  Let's pay them back!" Ruki smirked.

      "Takato!" Guilmon cried as he ran over to his Tamer.

      "Boy, I'm glad to see you, Guilmon!  Let's do it!" Takato said as he pulled out his D-Arc.

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      There was a blinding flash of blue and red lights, blinding Pandamon and Black Tailmon.

      "Renamon evolve to..."

      "Guilmon evolve to..."

      The lights flared up even more, causing those watching to avert their eyes.

      "Sakuyamon!" the powerful protector of nature announced as the blue light faded.

      "Dukemon!" cried the knight in dragon-like armor as the red light faded from around him.

      Pandamon and Black Tailmon both blinked slowly.

      "... Oh crud."

      "Nyar."

***~***

       Kenta moaned as he wiped his mouth with some toilet paper that was scavenged from the ruined port-a-potty.

      "All done?" Hirokazu inquired as he stared at the sky, leaning against Guardromon.

      "I think so...," Kenta mumbled as he tossed aside the used toilet paper.

      "Right," Hirokazu stood up and stretched.  "Let's go, then."  Guardromon stood up and imitated Hirokazu's stretch, despite the fact he didn't need to do it.

      "Think the others are okay?" Kenta asked as he stood up as well.

      "If not, we'll rescue them," Hirokazu replied, calmly.

      Kenta nodded and then blinked as he noticed something.  "Hey...  Where's Marine Angemon?" he asked as he looked around for his partner.

      "What?" Hirokazu blinked, and then slapped his forehead.  "DON'T tell me... he's lost."

      "Oh no...  What if some evil digimon kidnapped him!?" Kenta gasped fearfully.

      "HEY!  OI!  Marine Angemon!" Hirokazu called, irritably.  "Where are you?!"

      "Marine Angemon, where for art thou?" Guardromon called.

      "Marine Angemon!" Kenta cried as he looked around franticly.

      "Pipiiii!"

      "Culu!"

      Hirokazu blinked.  "Culu?" he repeated, glancing around.

      "Marine Angemon!" Kenta cried and he quickly darted towards the source of the sounds.

      Hirokazu ran after Kenta, confused, as Guardromon followed suit.

      As Hirokazu, Kenta, and Guardromon ran, a small pole popped in to view.  Marine Angemon squealed happily, swirling around the pole, as Culumon wiggled his ears and danced.

      Oddly enough, Culumon was chained to the pole by way of a collar and leash.

      "Culumon?" Kenta blinked as he readjusted his glasses.

      "What're you doing here?" Hirokazu asked as he paused to stare down at the digimon.

      "Culu...  Those mean digimon said I was cute and asked me to join their circus, but they told me to wash the tents and that's not fun!" Culumon said sadly as his ears retracted.  "They put this yucky collar on me and won't let me go now...  Culuculu..."

      "That's horrible!" Kenta gasped.

      "We'll put a stop to that!" Hirokazu puffed up bravely and took hold of the leash.  He yanked on it as hard as he could, trying to break it.

      The leash snapped off the pole with easily, too easily, as Hirokazu ended up falling over from the force of his tug when it broke.

      Hirokazu yelped as he went tumbling, right in to Guardromon.

      Guardromon yelped as his Tamer fell into him, but managed not to fall over.  "Hirokazu?" he asked, looking down at Hirokazu.  "Are you alright?"

      "O-ow...  Yeah...," Hirokazu grunted.  "I'm fine..."

      Hirokazu fumbled up, then eyed the leash.  "... This thing couldn't have even kept a dog locked up," he muttered.

      "Wooow...," Culumon stared in awe at Hirokazu.  "You're really, really strong!  Culucululu!"

      "Uh, right, of course!" Hirokazu replied as he eyed the leash, then Culumon.  "... Just call me Wonder Kazu."

      "CULU!  YAY!  Culuculu!  Wonder Kazu to the rescue!" Culumon cheered as he extended his ears and waved them around with his paws.  The tiny digimon then started running around Hirokazu's legs, cheering about 'Wonder Kazu'.

      Hirokazu blinked, then smirked and posed dynamically.  "That's right!  Hirokazu to the rescue!" he cackled.

      Kenta blinked as he stared at the sight, sweat-dropping nervously.

***~***

      Black Tailmon hissed, barely leaping out of the way as Sakuyamon swiped at her with her staff.  Sakuyamon didn't let Black Tailmon have any time to recover as she unleashed another attack upon the small Champion.  Her body was covered with numerous small cuts and bruises left over from the hits that had grazed her.  She knew her speed was the only thing that was saving her now; if Sakuyamon had hit her with any of her attacks dead-on, she'd be deleted right now.

      Pandamon circled, eying Dukemon warily, as he walked with a slight limp.  If anything Pandamon was doing worse than Black Tailmon was.  He wasn't built for speed like she was.  He was covered with slashes and bruises, all the result of his clash with Dukemon.  His right paw hung limply, useless, as his foot ached.

      Dukemon pointed his lance at Pandamon's chest, his gold eyes narrowed dangerously at the Ultimate.  "Tell us how to free the children and your lives will be spared," he said calmly.

      Pandamon flinched and narrowed his eyes, fumbling back.  "Y-you... how dare you...  We're not beaten yet!"

      "Okay...," Black Tailmon said, suddenly.

      Pandamon blanched then whirled to stare at Black Tailmon, dumbfounded.  "WHAT?!"

      "Hey, I don't want to die, nyar.  I'm too cute," Black Tailmon winked, and then winced at the action.

      Dukemon and Sakuyamon halted in their attacks, but held their weapons at the ready just in case as they watched Black Tailmon and Pandamon warily.  ChibiBa watched quietly, panting heavily as he nuzzled Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa held ChibiBa close, watching warily from the sidelines.  Terriermon stood beside them, having been acting as a cheerleader during the entire fight as he nursed his wounds.

      "Do it now," Sakuyamon ordered.  "Release them."

      "Yeah, yeah," Black Tailmon muttered.  She reared back and snapped her head from side to side, the crystal chiming in an almost off-key note.

      As the note chimed, irritating nerves, the crystal Jenrya was imprisoned in proceeded to crack.  The sound of cracking was echoed within the darkness from all around the arena.

      Pandamon watched Dukemon warily, occasionally casting Black Tailmon an unreadable expression.

      Seconds later, the crystal shattered.  The sound of the other crystals echoed through out the tent, creating a resounding crash.

      Jenrya fell to his knees, gasping with his eyes closed.  "Jen!" Terriermon cried as he rushed over to his Tamer's side.

      Jenrya didn't respond, simply gasping for air as he shivered.  Black Tailmon turned to eye the two Megas as she backed away.  Pandamon did the same as well, though his eyes darted to look at Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa stared at Pandamon as ChibiBa clung to him, his expression one of uncertainty.

      "Why?"

      Pandamon blinked and looked at Tsuyosa, who shivered and held ChibiBa close for comfort.

      "Why did you do all of this?" Tsuyosa asked, quietly.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon looked at Pandamon, who glanced back at her.  Black Tailmon slowly glanced at Sakuyamon, suspiciously, as she lashed her tail.  "To get Tamers."

      "... What?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "You can't force someone to become your Tamer," Dukemon said.  "It takes the mutual agreement of both human and digimon to become partners."

      "Bah," Pandamon snorted.  "Do you know how hard it is to find a kid when you're cute?  Everyone wants cool Digimon...  The only people who want cute ones are little girls... and all they want to do is dress you up and have tea parties!"

      "Or big, giggly broads," Black Tailmon agreed.  "Who want to use you as fashion accessories to make their girlfriends jealous."

      "Not all humans are like that," Sakuyamon replied.

      "Oh?" Pandamon arched an eyebrow and looked at Terriermon.  "I'd expect YOU of all digimon know what it's like to be dressed up in a dress and treated like a doll!"

      Terriermon twitched slightly as he glanced over at Pandamon.  "Well, yeah," he admitted.  "But Jen doesn't do that to me.  His little sister does.  Besides, I'm a rough and tumble digimon!"  He got into a martial arts stance.  "Jen and me do cool stuff together!"  He emphasized his point by kicking the air, but ended up wincing because of his injuries.

      "Yeah, well, what's left for the rest of us, nyar?" Black Tailmon lashed her tail.  "All the good Tamers are either taken or don't CARE about Digimon anymore!"

      "We have to try and sort through the masses of giggly little girls and airheads to try and find someone with the tiniest bit of good qualities!" Pandamon scoffed.  "Once you get right down to it, NO ONE decent wants a cute Digimon!"

      Tsuyosa simply stared, at a loss.

      "If you're cute, you're immediately labeled uncool and the type of Digimon only little girls play with!" Black Tailmon spat.  "I'm not a doll!"

      "..."  ChibiBa clenched his jaw.  "So why Tsu?"

      Pandamon blinked and eyed ChibiBa, as if he had asked something stupid.

      "Who WOULDN'T want Tsu-chan?"

      "... For once we agree.  And don't call him Tsu-chan."

      "While it is hard for some digimon to find their own Tamer," Sakuyamon said after a few minutes of silence.  "The bond between partners is indescribable.  If you insist on forcing bonds between yourselves and helpless children by making them your prisoners, you are only harming them and yourselves in the end."

      "If you try honestly to find a Tamer, you might actually find them," Dukemon added.

      "... Yeah, we'll keep that in mind...," Black Tailmon muttered as she slowly stared to back away.  "Now if you'll excuse us..."

      Pandamon matched her steps, edging away from the Megas.

      "See that you do," Sakuyamon warned.  "If you ever try this again, we will stop you."

      "... We'll remember THAT too... and look forward to seeing you... if you survive THIS!" Black Tailmon's eyes suddenly glowed a brilliant red.

      Suddenly Jenrya lurched forward to grab Terriermon.

      "Jen!?" Terriermon yelped as his Tamer squeezed him.  "What're you doing!?"

      Jenrya didn't reply as he held Terriermon tightly, his eyes glowing bright red.

      A loud snap issued as the once dark arena lit up brilliantly, revealing thousands upon thousands of shattered crystals and red-eyed children.  Black Tailmon and Pandamon smirked as they backed away, disappearing in to the horde of children that lumbered towards the Tamers and Digimon.

      Tsuyosa yelped and scrambled back, holding ChibiBa close as some children glowered at him.  "H-hey!" he squeaked.

      "JEN!" Terriermon struggled against his Tamer's grip, flailing.  "WAKE UP!"

      Dukemon backed away, warily, as some children tried to latch on to his legs.  "What are we going to do!?  We can't fight them!"

      Sakuyamon leapt back from some children as they tried to grab onto her.  "I don't know, but whatever we do, we better do it fast."


	14. No Need for Cuteness (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: Time again for another chapter, one with and one without yaoi goodness!  In case you selected the wrong one, this is the one without the shonen ai (boy/boy love) in it.  If you meant to go to the fully uncensored version of this chapter, then hurry or you'll miss out on some scenes!  Otherwise, enjoy!  As always, Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us!  No stealing!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 12: No Need for Cuteness**

***~***

      "GRRAAAAAARRRR!!!"

      Tsuyosa jumped, startled, as his eyes snapped open.  Takato started and whirled towards the cry, eyes wide.

      Seconds later, a black and silver figure lunged and tackled Takato with a snarl and a hiss of rage.  Takato cried out in shock and fear as his assailant tackled him.  ChibiBa clung to Takato's chest, pinning him to the floor and snarling down at him like a rabid beast as his eyes blazed red.

      "C-ChibiBa?!" Takato squeaked in alarm, eyes wide with fear.

      "ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa squeaked.  "What-?!"

      "How dare you take advantage of Tsuuuuuuu...," ChibiBa snarled, lips curled up in a feral growl.

      "I-I didn't!" Takato yelped as he struggled in vain to get away from ChibiBa.  "I didn't hurt him!"

      "ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa lunged and scooped up his Digimon, who squirmed and tried to grab Takato.  "ChibiBa, I'm okay!"

      ChibiBa shook violently and curled up in Tsuyosa's arms, his expression of utter anger and hatred as he clung to Tsuyosa's arm possessively.

      Takato shakily stood up and backed away a couple of steps as he eyed ChibiBa warily.

      "ChibiBa... calm down...  I'm all right, he didn't... he didn't hurt me..."

      However, Tsuyosa's words seemed to have the exact opposite effect as ChibiBa snapped his jaws together.  Takato paled and took another step back from ChibiBa at his display of hostility.

      "ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened.  "What's... what's wrong?  Are you mad at me?"

      ChibiBa's eyes widened and all of his rage seemed to disappear in an instant, as if Tsuyosa's words were like a splash of cold water.  ChibiBa let out a squeak and twisted about to hug Tsuyosa around the neck.  "No, no!" ChibiBa yelped.  "Never!  I'd never be mad at you!"

      Tsuyosa relaxed and held ChibiBa close, shaking.  "ChibiBa... you scared me...," he whispered.  ChibiBa narrowed his eyes, then nuzzled Tsuyosa's neck gently.

      "I'm sorry...  I won't scare you again...," he muttered.

      Takato let out a sigh of relief and cautiously approached Tsuyosa and ChibiBa, still wary of the diminutive Mega's wrath.  "What did I do to make you so angry?" Takato couldn't help but ask cautiously.

      ChibiBa glanced over his shoulder to fix Takato with a glare, his cheek twitching.  "I don't want to talk about it."

      Takato tensed at the glare, and quickly decided that it'd be safer for him to just drop the subject.  "... What happened to Pandamon?" he asked after a minute or so.

      "...!"  ChibiBa slapped his forehead.

      "Pandamon?" Tsuyosa's face grew pale.  "That creature that was stalking me!?"

      Takato nodded to Tsuyosa, frowning slightly.  "Yeah," he said and then he looked at ChibiBa again.  "What happened?  Did he run away?"

      "... I got distracted," came the curt response.

      "Distracted?" Tsuyosa blinked, innocently.  "Distracted by wha-EEEEP!"

      ChibiBa blinked and looked up, then snarled.  Standing in the shadows, eyes glowing almost demonically, was Pandamon.

      Takato blinked and whirled to stare at Pandamon.  "Pandamon!" he gasped.

      Pandamon narrowed his eyes and sneered, his scarf blowing in an invisible wind behind him.

      Tsuyosa shifted, fearfully, as he shivered.  "... What..."

      "Hmmm, don't worry Tsu-chan...," Pandamon crooned.  "I'll deal with them...  Don't be frightened."

      "..."  ChibiBa hissed.  "You have no right to call him that!"

      Takato narrowed his eyes at Pandamon and boldly moved to stand between Tsuyosa and the Ultimate.  "I'm not letting you touch Tsuyosa again!" Takato declared defiantly.

      "Hmmmm," Pandamon smirked, then put his paws on his hips.  "I'll have to get rid of you then."

      "I'll defend Tsu!" ChibiBa hissed.

      "Hmmm," Pandamon said, once more, before he looked at the ground.  "Do you know where you're standing?"

      "... Huh?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "..."

      "Another trap door?!" Takato gasped.

      "Bingo," Pandamon smirked as he pulled a lever.

      ChibiBa flailed as Tsuyosa let out a squeak, the two plummeting as the floor gave way.

      "Not again!" Takato cried out as he fell into the dark.

      ChibiBa snarled up at Pandamon as he fell, who peered down after them.

      "THERE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THREE TRAP DOORS!"

***~***

      "WHAT kind of COWARD just DISAPPEARS like that!?" Beelzebumon growled as he stomped his foot.  "You saw, right?  He left because I was going to win, RIGHT?"

      Sera nodded mutely, as she still couldn't speak; it was about all she had been doing during Beelzebumon's entire tirade of insults against the absent Opossomon.

      "RIGHT!" Beelzebumon seemed pleased.  "Of course!  He ran because I was going to win!"

      Again Sera nodded, her cheeks tinged red.

      "Baaa~!"

      Beelzebumon blinked, then glanced down at the floor in confusion.

      Sitting on its haunches, staring directly up at Beelzebumon, was Sheepmon.  It tilted its head to the side as it peered up curiously at the large Mega.  "Baaa~!" it repeated.

      Sera blinked and seemed to snap out of her stupor, and turned to look at Sheepmon curiously.  "A Sheepmon?" she blinked.

      Beelzebumon blinked slowly.

      "... Oi, do you work here?"

      "Baaa~!"

      "Then you're friends with that coward!"  Beelzebumon grabbed Sheepmon by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up.  "I got a bone to pick with you!"

      "BAAA~!" Sheepmon bleated as it struggled wildly to get away.

      "Heh, heh," Beelzebumon held Sheepmon up to his face.  "Now then..."

      Sheepmon's eyes widened as it broke out into a cold sweat.  "BAAA~!!!" it bleated fearfully.

      Suddenly a loud explosion ensued as Sheepmon spontaneously combusted.

      Beelzebumon's eyes snapped open in alarm and confusion as the ensuing explosion hit him dead on.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried out in alarm.

      "BAAAAAA~!!!"

      Sheepmon flew upwards with a bleat, piercing the tent ceiling before it disappeared from sight.

      Back in the crater the exploding Digimon left, Beelzebumon blinked slowly.  He looked highly charred and burnt, with his jacket smoking slightly.

      Beelzebumon tilted his head and coughed out a puff of smoke before he started patting his clothes to put the fire out.

      "Impmon, are you alright?" Sera asked worriedly as she rushed over to Beelzebumon.

      "I'm just toasty," Beelzebumon replied as he patted his jacket.  "And it's Beelzebumon."

***~***

      "Dude, aren't you done in there YET?!"

      The muffled sound of retching was Hirokazu's only reply from within the port-a-potty.

      "That's just sad," Hirokazu sighed as he leaned against Guardromon.

      "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!"

      "Pipi?" Marine Angemon chirped as he tilted his head, looking up towards the sky.

      Hirokazu blinked and looked up just as something white, fluffy, and smoking slammed in to the port-a-potty, creating a massive hole.

      "GAAAH!" Kenta screamed from inside the port-a-potty before scrambling out of it, falling over onto his back in his haste.

      "Oh dear!  Are we under attack?!" Guardromon gasped in alarm.

      "BaaaAaaaAaaa..." came the unsteady, dazed reply from within the port-a-potty.

      "Kenta!  You okay, man!?" Hirokazu darted over to his downed friend.

      "I think so...," Kenta moaned with a grimace on his face.  "It almost crashed down onto my head!" he squealed.

      "What IS it?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon said eloquently.

      "... That's a lot of help."  Hirokazu glowered at the miniature Mega.

      Marine Angemon blinked innocently at Hirokazu, looking adorable.

      "He said 'Sheepmon'," Kenta translated as he got to his feet.

      "Dude, how can you even understand one 'pipi' from the next?" Hirokazu asked as he arched a brow at Kenta.

      "I don't know," Kenta shrugged helplessly.  "Maybe it's just because we're partners."

      Another dizzy bleat issued as Sheepmon slumped through the doorway, wobbling and disoriented.

      "Baaa...?"

      "... That's it?" Hirokazu blinked.  Sheepmon looked up at the Tamers, blinking.

      "Baaaa~?"

      "I say, you're not one of the villains of this circus, are you?" Guardromon asked Sheepmon.

      "Baaaaaaa~!"

      Sheepmon shook his head vigorously, then turned and bolted.

      "Huh?" Hirokazu blinked.  "... Well.  That digimon was even crazier than Ruki."

      "Crazier than Ruki," Guardromon agreed.

      "Hey, what did I say about using my lines?!" Hirokazu scowled.

      "BLEEEEUUUGH!"

      Hirokazu jumped, startled, and whirled to stare as Kenta turned an unhealthy shade of green and fell to his knees.

      "... Man, you're not done?" Hirokazu blinked.

      Kenta weekly shook his head before he started to retch onto the ground.

      "... Man, you're pathetic."

***~***

      "Nyaaar."

      Black Tailmon balanced on her ball, paws on her hips as she smiled seductively.

      "JEN!" Terriermon cried in alarm as he stared at the large purple crystal that encased his Tamer.

      "What did you do?" Renamon demanded.

      "I thought it was fairly obvious," Black Tailmon blinked.

      "You better let Jen go right now, or I'll whack ya into next Tuesday!" Terriermon shouted threateningly as he glared at Black Tailmon.

      "Oh?" Black Tailmon smirked and leaned forward.  "How do you intend to do that, my little Rookie?"

      "By kicking your butt!" Terriermon retorted, not intimidated in the slightest.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon snickered.  "You can't even evolve!"

      "I don't need to give you a whoopin'!"

      "Why won't you try it then?" Black Tailmon purred.  Renamon crouched and snarled, her eyes narrowing.

      "Be careful... she's a Champion...," Renamon grunted.

      "You don't have to tell me twice," Terriermon muttered.

      Black Tailmon smirked, then crouched as her tail let out another soft chime.

      Suddenly, Black Tailmon paused and looked upwards with a blink and a twitch of her ears.

      "EEEEEEEYAAAAAAAH!!!"

      Black Tailmon blinked as the ceiling opened up and three figures fell from the sky: two humans and a digimon.

      "Oh, company." Black Tailmon purred as Takato, Tsuyosa, and ChibiBa landed in a heap in front of her.

      "... Don't tell me... ANOTHER trap door?" Terriermon guessed as he looked over the three.

      Tsuyosa was about to open his mouth to speak when he felt himself yanked backwards.  Tsuyosa squeaked in alarm, then squirmed violently.

      "Tssuuu-chaaaan...,"

      Tsuyosa paled and snapped his head about to stare, once again face to face with Pandamon.

      Pandamon held Tsuyosa close, smirking.  "I've got yoooou."

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried, and then quickly scrambled to his feet.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa whirled.  "DROP HIM, BEAR!"

      "NO, I don't think I will."  Pandamon pressed his nose against the back of Tsuyosa's head and took a deep breath, causing the boy to shiver.

      "STOP IT!" Takato yelled, enraged.  "Don't you DARE do anything to Tsuyosa!"

      "I'll kill you..." ChibiBa snarled, quivering.

      "Not before I kill you," Pandamon smirked.  He hold Tsuyosa close, taking another whiff, before he grabbed his scarf and tugged it off.  With expert speed, he tied Tsuyosa's arms and legs behind his back with the scarf, like a rodeo calf.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa crouched, then yelped as Black Tailmon's tail whipped his face sharply.

      "I'll help, boss," Black Tailmon purred.  "They irritate me anyway."

      "TSUYOSA!" Takato cried before glaring angrily at Pandamon.  "LET HIM GO!"

      "I'll kill you all," Pandamon purred.  "Especially you two."  Pandamon glanced sharply at ChibiBa and Takato.

      "No, stop!" Tsuyosa yelped, then squeaked as Pandamon gently dropped him to the floor.

      "Just hold on, Tsu-chan...  I'll deal with them!"  Pandamon beamed before he walked over to Black Tailmon, putting himself between Tsuyosa and the others.

      ChibiBa growled deeply, eyes narrowed.

      "You're insane...  An Ultimate and a Champion against two Rookies and a Mega?" Renamon snorted.

      "Maybe you should just save yourself the trouble and give up now," Terriermon quipped.

      "Nyar, we'll see...," Black Tailmon lashed her tail.  "We'll just have to see!"

      "They're right," Pandamon glanced at Black Tailmon, sneeringly.  "We should be worried, shouldn't we?"

      "No, I don't think so...," Black Tailmon crooned.  "He'll be too busy..."

      "... Busy, dear Black Tailmon?" Pandamon blinked innocently.

      "... Yes, busy...," Black Tailmon swung her hips.  "... Making sure the others don't die!"

      Suddenly, Black Tailmon whipped out her claw and slashed at Terriermon.  "NEKO PUNCH!" she hissed, claws glittering dangerously.

      Terriermon squeaked as Black Tailmon slashed him across the face, then proceeded to follow up the attack with a fury of swipes.

      "Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!  Neko Punch!"

      "Terriermon!" Renamon moved to help but let out a pained gasp as Pandamon lunged at her and slammed his own fist in to her stomach.

      "Bamboo Grass Punch!" Pandamon snarled as he hit Renamon in the stomach, sending her flying.

      "NEKO PUNCH!  NEKO PUNCH!  NEKO PUNCH!" Black Tailmon continued to claw at Terriermon violently until she flipped back and snapped her tail.

      "Terriermon!  Renamon!" Takato cried, feeling helpless.  Guilmon wasn't there so he couldn't help them.

      Terriermon moaned in pain as he held where he had gotten clawed.  He shook his head a bit and then glared at Black Tailmon before he started to spin.  "PETI-"

      "NEKO KICK!" she snarled, her leg whipping out.

      Before the blow could hit Terriermon, however, a small black form lunged in the way and took the force of the hit before retaliating with a slash.  Black Tailmon flipped and landed on her feet, wincing as a slash mark appeared on her leg.

      ChibiBa growled, glaring as he stood in front of Terriermon.

      While the attack never hit, the attempt and block was enough to distract Terriermon and disrupt his attack.

      Black Tailmon and Pandamon seemed to grin in union, somehow pleased at ChibiBa's actions.

      "What's so funny?" ChibiBa hissed, glowering.

      "I wonder... how long you can keep that up?" Black Tailmon tilted her head.

      "... Keep what up?"

      "THIS!" Pandamon whirled and lunged at Renamon again, who just stumbled to her feet.  "BAMBOO GRASS PUNCH!"

      ChibiBa yelped and darted in to Pandamon's way, taking the particularly deadly hit before it could pulverize the Rookie.

      "Neko Kick!" Black Tailmon hissed as she lunged at Terriermon once more.  ChibiBa growled and kicked Pandamon away, lunging to defend Terriermon once more.

      The Ultimate and Champion continued their hideous game with ChibiBa, knocking the Rookies about mercilessly while forcing the Mega to defend them without much chance of retaliation.  Renamon gasped in pain as she tried to dodge, though the Ultimate proved far too fast and powerful for her as she was.  Likewise, Black Tailmon proved very resourceful and as much a threat as Pandamon despite her level difference.

      ChibiBa darted back and forth, trying to stop the Ultimate Pandamon from ripping Renamon apart while darting back to stop Black Tailmon from using Terriermon as a scratching post.

      By the end, ChibiBa was gasping painfully on his feet as his entire body felt battered and sluggish.

      "ChibiBa-!" Tsuyosa whimpered, squirming.

      "Heh... heh...," Pandamon sneered, crouched.  "What good is a Mega that never gets a chance to attack?  Are you willing to sacrifice them in order to attack us?  If you stop, we'll kill them."

      "Nyaaaaar!" Black Tailmon purred, swaying slightly.

      "..."  ChibiBa bared his teeth and let out a wavering growl.

      "No!  Stop it!" Tsuyosa pleaded, but Pandamon ignored him.

      "Stop it!  This isn't fair!" Takato yelled, but his words too fell on deaf ears.

      "Don't worry about us, ChibiBa," Renamon said, hiding her pain admirably as she crouched.  "Just take care of yourself."

      "Yeah," Terriermon nodded, his voice laced with pain and determination.  "We're tougher than we look!"

      "Heh, admirable...," Pandamon crooned, then glowered and held up his fists. "But dead is still dead!"

      ChibiBa crouched, preparing to defend the two from the next attack irregardless of his own wounds.

      "TAKATOMON!"

      "Renamon!"

      Pandamon's eyes snapped open with surprise as Black Tailmon blinked and looked up.

      Everyone turned to look as Guilmon and Ruki came running out of the darkness towards the arena.

      "RUKI!" Renamon cried, relieved.

      "GUILMON!" Takato cried happily.

      "... A-ah?" ChibiBa stared, almost uncomprehending as a little blood trailed down the corner of his mouth.

      "Alright!" Terriermon cheered, then smirked at Pandamon and Black Tailmon.  "You're in for it now!"

      "Ruki!" Renamon repeated, happily.

      "All right, Renamon!  Let's pay them back!" Ruki smirked.

      "Takato!" Guilmon cried as he ran over to his Tamer.

      "Boy, I'm glad to see you, Guilmon!  Let's do it!" Takato said as he pulled out his D-Arc.

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      "Matrix Evolution!"

      There was a blinding flash of blue and red lights, blinding Pandamon and Black Tailmon.

      "Renamon evolve to..."

      "Guilmon evolve to..."

      The lights flared up even more, causing those watching to avert their eyes.

      "Sakuyamon!" the powerful protector of nature announced as the blue light faded.

      "Dukemon!" cried the knight in dragon-like armor as the red light faded from around him.

      Pandamon and Black Tailmon both blinked slowly.

      "... Oh crud."

      "Nyar."

***~***

       Kenta moaned as he wiped his mouth with some toilet paper that was scavenged from the ruined port-a-potty.

      "All done?" Hirokazu inquired as he stared at the sky, leaning against Guardromon.

      "I think so...," Kenta mumbled as he tossed aside the used toilet paper.

      "Right," Hirokazu stood up and stretched.  "Let's go, then."  Guardromon stood up and imitated Hirokazu's stretch, despite the fact he didn't need to do it.

      "Think the others are okay?" Kenta asked as he stood up as well.

      "If not, we'll rescue them," Hirokazu replied, calmly.

      Kenta nodded and then blinked as he noticed something.  "Hey...  Where's Marine Angemon?" he asked as he looked around for his partner.

      "What?" Hirokazu blinked, and then slapped his forehead.  "DON'T tell me... he's lost."

      "Oh no...  What if some evil digimon kidnapped him!?" Kenta gasped fearfully.

      "HEY!  OI!  Marine Angemon!" Hirokazu called, irritably.  "Where are you?!"

      "Marine Angemon, where for art thou?" Guardromon called.

      "Marine Angemon!" Kenta cried as he looked around franticly.

      "Pipiiii!"

      "Culu!"

      Hirokazu blinked.  "Culu?" he repeated, glancing around.

      "Marine Angemon!" Kenta cried and he quickly darted towards the source of the sounds.

      Hirokazu ran after Kenta, confused, as Guardromon followed suit.

      As Hirokazu, Kenta, and Guardromon ran, a small pole popped in to view.  Marine Angemon squealed happily, swirling around the pole, as Culumon wiggled his ears and danced.

      Oddly enough, Culumon was chained to the pole by way of a collar and leash.

      "Culumon?" Kenta blinked as he readjusted his glasses.

      "What're you doing here?" Hirokazu asked as he paused to stare down at the digimon.

      "Culu...  Those mean digimon said I was cute and asked me to join their circus, but they told me to wash the tents and that's not fun!" Culumon said sadly as his ears retracted.  "They put this yucky collar on me and won't let me go now...  Culuculu..."

      "That's horrible!" Kenta gasped.

      "We'll put a stop to that!" Hirokazu puffed up bravely and took hold of the leash.  He yanked on it as hard as he could, trying to break it.

      The leash snapped off the pole with easily, too easily, as Hirokazu ended up falling over from the force of his tug when it broke.

      Hirokazu yelped as he went tumbling, right in to Guardromon.

      Guardromon yelped as his Tamer fell into him, but managed not to fall over.  "Hirokazu?" he asked, looking down at Hirokazu.  "Are you alright?"

      "O-ow...  Yeah...," Hirokazu grunted.  "I'm fine..."

      Hirokazu fumbled up, then eyed the leash.  "... This thing couldn't have even kept a dog locked up," he muttered.

      "Wooow...," Culumon stared in awe at Hirokazu.  "You're really, really strong!  Culucululu!"

      "Uh, right, of course!" Hirokazu replied as he eyed the leash, then Culumon.  "... Just call me Wonder Kazu."

      "CULU!  YAY!  Culuculu!  Wonder Kazu to the rescue!" Culumon cheered as he extended his ears and waved them around with his paws.  The tiny digimon then started running around Hirokazu's legs, cheering about 'Wonder Kazu'.

      Hirokazu blinked, then smirked and posed dynamically.  "That's right!  Hirokazu to the rescue!" he cackled.

      Kenta blinked as he stared at the sight, sweat-dropping nervously.

***~***

      Black Tailmon hissed, barely leaping out of the way as Sakuyamon swiped at her with her staff.  Sakuyamon didn't let Black Tailmon have any time to recover as she unleashed another attack upon the small Champion.  Her body was covered with numerous small cuts and bruises left over from the hits that had grazed her.  She knew her speed was the only thing that was saving her now; if Sakuyamon had hit her with any of her attacks dead-on, she'd be deleted right now.

      Pandamon circled, eying Dukemon warily, as he walked with a slight limp.  If anything Pandamon was doing worse than Black Tailmon was.  He wasn't built for speed like she was.  He was covered with slashes and bruises, all the result of his clash with Dukemon.  His right paw hung limply, useless, as his foot ached.

      Dukemon pointed his lance at Pandamon's chest, his gold eyes narrowed dangerously at the Ultimate.  "Tell us how to free the children and your lives will be spared," he said calmly.

      Pandamon flinched and narrowed his eyes, fumbling back.  "Y-you... how dare you...  We're not beaten yet!"

      "Okay...," Black Tailmon said, suddenly.

      Pandamon blanched then whirled to stare at Black Tailmon, dumbfounded.  "WHAT?!"

      "Hey, I don't want to die, nyar.  I'm too cute," Black Tailmon winked, and then winced at the action.

      Dukemon and Sakuyamon halted in their attacks, but held their weapons at the ready just in case as they watched Black Tailmon and Pandamon warily.  ChibiBa watched quietly, panting heavily as he nuzzled Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa held ChibiBa close, watching warily from the sidelines.  Terriermon stood beside them, having been acting as a cheerleader during the entire fight as he nursed his wounds.

      "Do it now," Sakuyamon ordered.  "Release them."

      "Yeah, yeah," Black Tailmon muttered.  She reared back and snapped her head from side to side, the crystal chiming in an almost off-key note.

      As the note chimed, irritating nerves, the crystal Jenrya was imprisoned in proceeded to crack.  The sound of cracking was echoed within the darkness from all around the arena.

      Pandamon watched Dukemon warily, occasionally casting Black Tailmon an unreadable expression.

      Seconds later, the crystal shattered.  The sound of the other crystals echoed through out the tent, creating a resounding crash.

      Jenrya fell to his knees, gasping with his eyes closed.  "Jen!" Terriermon cried as he rushed over to his Tamer's side.

      Jenrya didn't respond, simply gasping for air as he shivered.  Black Tailmon turned to eye the two Megas as she backed away.  Pandamon did the same as well, though his eyes darted to look at Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa stared at Pandamon as ChibiBa clung to him, his expression one of uncertainty.

      "Why?"

      Pandamon blinked and looked at Tsuyosa, who shivered and held ChibiBa close for comfort.

      "Why did you do all of this?" Tsuyosa asked, quietly.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon looked at Pandamon, who glanced back at her.  Black Tailmon slowly glanced at Sakuyamon, suspiciously, as she lashed her tail.  "To get Tamers."

      "... What?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "You can't force someone to become your Tamer," Dukemon said.  "It takes the mutual agreement of both human and digimon to become partners."

      "Bah," Pandamon snorted.  "Do you know how hard it is to find a kid when you're cute?  Everyone wants cool Digimon...  The only people who want cute ones are little girls... and all they want to do is dress you up and have tea parties!"

      "Or big, giggly broads," Black Tailmon agreed.  "Who want to use you as fashion accessories to make their girlfriends jealous."

      "Not all humans are like that," Sakuyamon replied.

      "Oh?" Pandamon arched an eyebrow and looked at Terriermon.  "I'd expect YOU of all digimon know what it's like to be dressed up in a dress and treated like a doll!"

      Terriermon twitched slightly as he glanced over at Pandamon.  "Well, yeah," he admitted.  "But Jen doesn't do that to me.  His little sister does.  Besides, I'm a rough and tumble digimon!"  He got into a martial arts stance.  "Jen and me do cool stuff together!"  He emphasized his point by kicking the air, but ended up wincing because of his injuries.

      "Yeah, well, what's left for the rest of us, nyar?" Black Tailmon lashed her tail.  "All the good Tamers are either taken or don't CARE about Digimon anymore!"

      "We have to try and sort through the masses of giggly little girls and airheads to try and find someone with the tiniest bit of good qualities!" Pandamon scoffed.  "Once you get right down to it, NO ONE decent wants a cute Digimon!"

      Tsuyosa simply stared, at a loss.

      "If you're cute, you're immediately labeled uncool and the type of Digimon only little girls play with!" Black Tailmon spat.  "I'm not a doll!"

      "..."  ChibiBa clenched his jaw.  "So why Tsu?"

      Pandamon blinked and eyed ChibiBa, as if he had asked something stupid.

      "Who WOULDN'T want Tsu-chan?"

      "... For once we agree.  And don't call him Tsu-chan."

      "While it is hard for some digimon to find their own Tamer," Sakuyamon said after a few minutes of silence.  "The bond between partners is indescribable.  If you insist on forcing bonds between yourselves and helpless children by making them your prisoners, you are only harming them and yourselves in the end."

      "If you try honestly to find a Tamer, you might actually find them," Dukemon added.

      "... Yeah, we'll keep that in mind...," Black Tailmon muttered as she slowly stared to back away.  "Now if you'll excuse us..."

      Pandamon matched her steps, edging away from the Megas.

      "See that you do," Sakuyamon warned.  "If you ever try this again, we will stop you."

      "... We'll remember THAT too... and look forward to seeing you... if you survive THIS!" Black Tailmon's eyes suddenly glowed a brilliant red.

      Suddenly Jenrya lurched forward to grab Terriermon.

      "Jen!?" Terriermon yelped as his Tamer squeezed him.  "What're you doing!?"

      Jenrya didn't reply as he held Terriermon tightly, his eyes glowing bright red.

      A loud snap issued as the once dark arena lit up brilliantly, revealing thousands upon thousands of shattered crystals and red-eyed children.  Black Tailmon and Pandamon smirked as they backed away, disappearing in to the horde of children that lumbered towards the Tamers and Digimon.

      Tsuyosa yelped and scrambled back, holding ChibiBa close as some children glowered at him.  "H-hey!" he squeaked.

      "JEN!" Terriermon struggled against his Tamer's grip, flailing.  "WAKE UP!"

      Dukemon backed away, warily, as some children tried to latch on to his legs.  "What are we going to do!?  We can't fight them!"

      Sakuyamon leapt back from some children as they tried to grab onto her.  "I don't know, but whatever we do, we better do it fast."


	15. Crystal Cat-astrophe

Authors' Notes: Yes!  Another chapter, and it's lucky number 13!  No worries to everyone about whether this is the yaoi or yaoi-free chapter, since this chapter doesn't contain any, thus it's just one fully uncensored version.  Whoot!  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and anyone else new, as well as this story, belong to both of us, so don't steal!  Oh, and thank you to everyone who's made such lovely reviews!  They're very encouraging!  ^_^

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 13: Crystal Cat-astrophe**

***~***

      Beelzebumon finally finished dusting off his jacket and bodysuit of soot when he heard a cracking noise.

      "...?"  Beelzebumon looked up, blinking, then glanced at Sera.  "Did you hear something?"

      Sera nodded and glanced around, looking for the source of the noise.  Her eyes widened as she found out where it was coming from.  "Look!" she gasped, pointing at the nearby crystals.

      Beelzebumon glanced at the crystals, curiously.  "What?"

      After a moment he saw what Sera had; cracks were forming in the crystals.

      "ACK!" Beelzebumon yelped and darted towards the crystals.  "What's going on!?"

      "I don't know," Sera said worriedly as she darted after Beelzebumon.

      The crystals continued to crack more drastically by the second, pieces starting to fall off.

      "What do we do!?" Beelzebumon examined the crystals.

      "I-I don't know," Sera fidgeted as she watched the crystals fall apart.  "Maybe... maybe this means the others undid whatever was keeping them trapped?"  She didn't know if she was right or not, but hoped she was and that whatever was happening wouldn't harm the children still trapped inside of the crystals.

      Beelzebumon simply nodded as the crystals continued to crack and flake until, suddenly, the crystals shattered.  All of the children that had been contained within crystals fell limply from their now shattered prisons.  Sera kneeled down next to the nearest child and checked them over to see if they were all right.

      "Is the kid...?"  Beelzebumon knelt by Sera, curiously.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief as she found that the child seemed to be healthy.  "He's fine," she breathed, relieved.

      "Ai and Mako-chan?" Beelzebumon looked up, blinking.

      Sera started and quickly stood up.  "That's right!" she gasped.  "They must be free now too."

      Beelzebumon nodded and stood up as well, then turned on his heels and darted to the location that they last saw the twins.  Sera dashed off after him quickly, hoping her cousins were all right.

      The two soon came upon Ai and Makoto, who lay unconscious side by side of each other.  The shattered remains of their crystal containments surrounded them.

      Sera quickly kneeled down between the twins once she reached them.  She then checked the two of them over like she had done for the little boy earlier.  "Ai and Makoto are fine too," she sighed with relief after she finished looking her cousins over.

      Beelzebumon sat down and rested his arms against his knees.  "That's good...," he muttered, sighing.

      Sera nodded as she glanced at Beelzebumon.  "I guess the others must have somehow broke whatever was keeping them prisoner," she commented as she removed the crystal shards that had come to rest on Ai and Makoto.

      "I guess everything's okay then?" Beelzebumon blinked.

      "I guess so."  Sera looked towards where the others had gone.  "Which means all we can do now is wait for them to get back..."

       Beelzebumon nodded, then gently wiped at his cheek to try and get rid of the black smudge.  Sera glanced at Beelzebumon, blushed, and then looked away quickly.

      Beelzebumon didn't notice as he rubbed at the smudge, furiously.

      Sera couldn't help but glance at Beelzebumon again.  She tried to will the heat away from her cheeks as she did so.  "Um...," she muttered.

      "Is it gone?" Beelzebumon blinked at Sera as he showed her his cheek.

      "Uh...  It's still there," Sera mumbled, her blush a tad deeper.

      "Damn!" Beelzebumon scowled as he rubbed his cheek.

      "Umm...," Sera bit her lower lip nervously.  "... I could help you with that... if you want...?"

      Beelzebumon blinked at Sera blankly, then tapped his chin.  "Um... okay..."

      Sera tugged her sleeve down to grip some of the cloth between her fingers, and used it to timidly wipe away the blackness that stained Beelzebumon's cheek.  She blushed deeply as she did so; she was feeling rather embarrassed and shy all of a sudden.

      Beelzebumon blinked slowly, stunned as he felt his cheeks start to glow red.  He swallowed quietly and held still, feigning indifference as Sera wiped away the smudge.

      After a few moments of gently rubbing, Sera managed to wipe away the smudge completely.  "All done...," she muttered as she looked down and readjusted her sleeve.

      Beelzebumon blinked and felt his cheek, then coughed lightly.  "... Er... uh... thank you."

      "You're welcome..."  Sera fidgeted slightly, trying to get rid of her nervousness.

      "..."  Beelzebumon stared at the ground, unsure of what to say.

      Sera finally spoke up again after a few minutes of silence.  "U-Um..."  She stared at her hands as she wrung them together nervously.  "... So...  What do you think... of me...?"

      "H-hah?"  Beelzebumon's eyes widened as his cheeks burned.  "About what?!"

      "Ah...  About me as your Tamer," Sera elaborated, blushing more deeply as she glanced up at Beelzebumon shyly.

      "O-oh," Beelzebumon blinked, then rubbed the back of his head and laughed.  "Well, you were helpful against that freak with the balloons... you know, the shield and all...," he fumbled.

      Sera nodded and smiled brightly, happily, at him.  "I'm glad I could help."

      Beelzebumon blinked again, then coughed and looked away while blushing.  "Er... uh..."

      "I want to be a good Tamer for you," Sera added quietly as she looked down at her hands again.

      "I..."  Beelzebumon was at a loss.  The only Tamers he ever knew where Ai and Makoto.  He had no idea how to respond to someone who actually cared; was this what Guilbrat's Tamer was like?

      The two sat in silence for a few long minutes.

      "... Maybe we should check to see what's keeping the others," Sera said, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice as she stood up.

      "..."  Beelzebumon stood up, nodding.

      Sera started to walk, but ended up stepping onto one of the small crystal shards littering the floor.  She cried out in alarm as the crystal caused her to slip, and flailed her arms wildly to remain standing.

      Beelzebumon yelped in surprise, almost slipping but managing to keep his balance as the crystals crunched underfoot.

      Sera ended up crashing into Beelzebumon roughly, yelping upon impact, and sending the both of them to the ground.

      Beelzebumon yowled as he hit the floor, shattering the already broken crystal shards with his weight.

      Sera moaned and shook her head slightly as she recovered from the fall.  She blinked and her cheeks became stained with crimson as she realized was lying atop of Beelzebumon.  "A-ah!" she yelped, startled and embarrassed.  "S-sorry!"

      Beelzebumon blinked, then his eyes widened as he flushed.

      Sera propped herself up with her hands, trying to get up quickly, but again ended up slipping on the crystal shards and fell back down on top of Beelzebumon.  "S-sorry!" she repeated, feeling insanely embarrassed.  Inwardly she cursed at herself for being such a klutz.  Beelzebumon squeaked as he scrambled, unsure of what to do but very embarrassed nonetheless.

      "I... er... it's okay...," Beelzebumon muttered.

      Sera attempted to stand back up, but stopped suddenly after she had placed her hands onto the floor.

      Beelzebumon blinked and glanced up at Sera.  "Uh... Sera?"

      Sera didn't respond as she looked down at Beelzebumon, her bangs blocking the view of her eyes.  Without warning, she suddenly grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his chest tightly.

      "H-HEY!" Beelzebumon squealed.  "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

      Sera remained silent as she kept a firm hold on Beelzebumon.

      "Um... Sera... I'd like to stand up...," Beelzebumon blinked.

      It was then that Beelzebumon felt something latch onto each of his legs.  Beelzebumon blinked and glanced down to see what was happening.  Ai and Makoto were now awake and each of them had grabbed onto one of Beelzebumon's legs tightly.  Their eyes glowed a bright red as they looked up at him.

      "A-Ai?  Mako-chan!?" Beelzebumon stared.

      The sounds of crystals scraping under numerous feet was suddenly heard from all around as the other formerly trapped children started walking towards Beelzebumon, their eyes all glowing the same brilliant red as Ai and Makoto.

      "Hey... hey wait!" Beelzebumon squirmed, then looked up at Sera.  "SERA!"

      Sera didn't say anything; instead she tilted her head slightly as she looked down at him.

      Beelzebumon gasped, staring.

      Her eyes were glowing red.

***~***

      Children clawed and clung to the Tamers and digimon, eyes glowing brilliantly.  Some wandered to help Jenrya with Terriermon, grabbing his ears and paws, while others chased Tsuyosa.  ChibiBa snarled and snapped at the children, weakly, as Tsuyosa tried to avoid them as best he could.  Terriermon yowled in pain as he was pulled in all directions and clawed at.  He tried his hardest to escape the hypnotized children and Jenrya, but his struggles were in vain as there were just too many of them, and he was already weakened from the earlier battle.

      Sakuyamon leapt out of the children's reach, trying to avoid them without actually hurting them.  Dukemon had rid himself of his lance for fear of accidentally stabbing any of the children that were lunging at him.  He tried to use his shield to block the controlled children, but still many of them had managed to latch onto him, and were trying to rip his armor off.

      Tsuyosa yelped as one child tackled him, sending him sprawling.  ChibiBa hissed violently and lashed at the child, who ignored him.

      "What do we do!?" Terriermon choked, flailing.

      "That Black Tailmon...," Tsuyosa hissed as he crawled away from the children.  "She's responsible... that Cat's Eye Hypnotist attack of hers!"

      "But how can we get out of here to get her to undo it?" Dukemon asked as he pulled off a pair of children who were in the process of ripping his cape off.

      "Where are those other two?" Tsuyosa looked up.  "That boy that hit me and the other with the glasses?"

      "Throwing up," ChibiBa replied.

      "Hirokazu and Kenta?" Terriermon squeaked, appalled that they might have to rely on them.

      Sakuyamon scowled slightly, then shook her head.

      "They're our best chance..."

***~***

      "Culu, culu, culuuu!"

      "Where could they be?" Kenta sighed, then sweat-dropped as 'Wonder Kazu' Hirokazu stalked in front of him, puffed up with pride.

      "Pipi pi pi?" Marine Angemon suggested as he hovered next to Kenta.

      "No, I don't think they're in the bathroom," Kenta sweat-dropped.

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon shrugged.

      "Wherever they are, we'll find them... after all, I am Wonder Kazu!" Hirokazu cackled.

      "Wonder Kazu!" Guardromon cheered.

      "Culuculu!  Wonder Kazu's the greatest!" Culumon cheered.

      "... Right," Kenta sweat-dropped once more.

      "Nyaaar!"

      The group stopped in their tracks as they saw Black Tailmon and Pandamon sneaking out of the tent.

      As the Tamers and digimon watched the two's departure, a horde of other cute digimon darted out of the tent.  They passed by Pandamon, darting for a large trailer in the back.  Pandamon and Black Tailmon were slow in following, obviously wounded.

      "Hey, look!" Kenta pointed at the two digimon.  "It's that Black Gatomon Takato told us about!  And some other digimon too!"

      "Yeah!  Where are THEY going in such a hurry?" Hirokazu scowled.

      "I don't know...  What should we do?" Kenta blinked.

      "... HEY!  HEY YOU!" Hirokazu cried, suddenly.  "STOP!"

      "Stop right there, varlet!" Guardromon cried.

      "... Varlet?" Black Tailmon paused to look at Guardromon and Hirokazu.  "What's a varlet?"

      "Who cares?" Pandamon growled.  "We don't have time for them!"

      "You're responsible for everything, aren't you!?" Hirokazu continued, pointing dynamically.

      "... Yeah, sure, whatever, bye!" Pandamon whirled and darted for the trailer.  Black Tailmon lashed her tail, then smirked and followed after.

      "Stop!  We know you're behind this, Black Gatomon!" Hirokazu yelled as he started to chase after the pair.

      "Stop!" Guardromon echoed as he ran with his Tamer.

      Black Tailmon paused, then whirled and bared her teeth, outraged.  "TAILMON!  BLACK TAILMON!  WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY GATOMON!?  IT'S NOT EVEN THE RIGHT TENSE!" she screamed.

      "Black Tailmon!  Come on!  We don't have time for them!" Pandamon barked.

      "GATO is the MALE TENSE of cat!  MALE!  Do I LOOK male!?" Black Tailmon continued, waving her paws as she ranted.

      "Yes you do, culu!" Culumon chirped cutely.

      "SAY THAT AGAIN!" Black Tailmon shrieked, practically foaming at the mouth as her claws glistened.

      "BLACK TAILMON!" Pandamon snapped, harshly.  "GET OVER HERE!  NOW!"

      "Yes you do, culu!" Culumon repeated happily.

      "NYAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!" Black Tailmon lunged, slashing upwards at Culumon.

      "CULUCULU!" Culumon yelped and quickly dashed behind Hirokazu to avoid being slashed.  "Was it something I said!?"

      Black Tailmon hissed in a feral manner as she lunged again, flinging Hirokazu aside as if he were a rag doll.  Hirokazu yowled in surprise, and then grunted in pain as he hit the ground roughly.  Guardromon yelped and quickly ran to help Hirokazu.

      Pandamon skidded to a stop and whirled, sighing with exasperation as he doubled back to get the enraged Champion.

      "CULUCULU!" Culumon yowled and quickly ran to hide behind Kenta.

      "H-Hey!" Kenta yelped as he tried to get away from Culumon and Black Tailmon, but Culumon wouldn't let go of his ankle.

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon glowered cutely at Black Tailmon, as if warning her not to attack his Tamer.

      Black Tailmon would not be denied, however, as she whirled.  She glanced at Marine Angemon, then narrowed her eyes and let out a hideous growl, baring all of her razor sharp teeth in a vicious shark-like snarl.

      "Pipi pi!" Marine Angemon said firmly, paws placed on his sides as he tried to look intimidating.

      Black Tailmon stalked forward and glared down at Marine Angemon, who barely even came up to her waist.  Her snarl deepened as a low growl issued from her throat.

      As the two glared, it seemed that neither would budge.  Mega to Champion, they locked glares.

      At least, they did until Black Tailmon punted Marine Angemon across the circus grounds like a football.

      "Pipiiiiii!" Marine Angemon cried as he went flying.

      "MARINE ANGEMON!" Kenta cried in alarm as he helplessly watched his partner soar through the sky.

      "Uh oh...  Culuculu...," Culumon whimpered as he clung to Kenta's ankle, watching Black Tailmon fearfully.

      Pandamon blinked and yowled, diving for cover as he barely dodged being hit by the punted Marine Angemon.  Pandamon sputtered, spitting out dirt, then sat up and glowered.  "... When?" he muttered.  "When did people stop listening to me?"

      Black Tailmon slowly turned to sneer at Culumon, almost maniacally.  "So then... what was that about me looking male?"

      "Culu...  But you do...," Culumon whimpered, not seeing why Black Tailmon was upset.

      "I DO NOT!" Black Tailmon shrieked, then lunged at Culumon.

      However, no one was prepared for what happened next.

      Marine Angemon flew through the air and hit Guardromon, bouncing off of him with a pained "PIPI~!"  The small Mega soared back towards Black Tailmon, who paused and tilted her head, sensing that something was amiss.  Just as the Champion turned her head to look over her shoulder, Marine Angemon hit her full force in the face.  Black Tailmon yelped as she went tumbling, her eyes dazed as blood dribbled from her nose.  She landed in a heap on the ground, unconscious as her tongue hung out of her mouth.

      "Marine Angemon!" Kenta cried as he rushed over to where his partner had fallen.  Marine Angemon floated in place, swerving from side to side, dazed.  Kenta picked up the diminutive Mega and held him close.  "Are you okay?"

      "Pii~," Marine Angemon answered, dazed.

      "Didn't I tell you to just come?!" Pandamon snarled as he darted over and grabbed Black Tailmon by the tail.  He whirled and ran for the trailer, the Champion gurgling behind him.

      "Hey!  Wait!" Hirokazu tried to chase after.  "We're not done yet!"

      Pandamon ignored Hirokazu, running for the trailer.

***~***

      "I don't think I can last much longer you guys!" Terriermon yowled, pained, as numerous scratches covered his body from all the children that had clawed at him.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he backed against the wall, utterly surrounded by children.

      Dukemon grunted as he tried to force off the children that had dog-piled themselves on top of him without hurting them, his cape completely torn away.

      "If only there was some way to get through to them," Sakuyamon growled as she franticly dodged the hordes of children trying to latch themselves onto her.

      Suddenly, all of the children seemed to pause in their tracks.  The children fumbled about in a dazed manner before they collapsed outright to the ground.

      "Wha?" Terriermon blinked and grunted in pain as he hit the ground once the children holding onto him collapsed.

      Dukemon carefully pushed off the children sleeping atop him and stood up slowly, looking around.  "Is it over?" he asked.

      "It would seem so..." Sakuyamon agreed.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly as the children curled up on the floor, slumbering peacefully.  He glanced at ChibiBa, who slumped in his arms.

      "Well, well," ChibiBa muttered.  "Looks like those two morons are good for something!"

***~***

      Sera moaned as she blinked her eyes open slowly, wincing slightly as her head ached.  "What happened...?" she wondered aloud.  The last thing she remembered was trying to stand back up, and then...

      A soft moan issued from beneath Sera, pained and dizzy.

      Sera blinked at the sound gasped as her train of thought was instantly interrupted once she had looked down.

      Impmon twitched, covered with bruises and scratches, as he slumped against the ground.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried in alarm as her eyes widened.  Quickly she sat up, as she had been lying on top of Impmon, and carefully took him into her arms, cradling him gently.

      Impmon shivered and let out a pained gasp before he went slack in Sera's arms.

      "Impmon, are you alright?" Sera asked, worried.

      Impmon's eyes fluttered open and he turned to look at Sera, painfully.  He blinked slowly, almost uncomprehending.

      "... Ow..."

      Sera grimaced at the sight of Impmon's wounds, and carefully lay him in her lap, still cradling his head with one of her arms.  She took a hold of the sleeve of her free hand with her teeth and tore off a large chunk of it.  Carefully she tore the piece of cloth into slim strips and used it to bandage the worst of Impmon's wounds.

      Impmon twitched, barely conscious, as he allowed Sera to tend to his wounds.

      "What happened?" Sera asked after she used up all the strips she made.

      Impmon went quiet and looked at Sera.  He didn't want to tell her what had happened; that she and the children had almost torn him apart.  He knew it wasn't their fault, since they were acting like zombies.

      But the truth hurt.

      "Impmon!"

      "Impmon!"

      Impmon's eyes snapped open wide as he paled, recognizing the voices instantly.  Sera blinked and turned to see Ai and Makoto run over, their eyes lit up at the sight of Impmon.  They reached out to grab at the wounded digimon so that they can hug him, not realizing that they might hurt him in the process.

      Impmon yelped in alarm, then braced himself for the pain he knew would come.

      Instantly Sera stood up, putting Impmon out of Ai and Makoto's reach before they could put their hands on him.  "No!" Sera said firmly as she looked down at her confused cousins.  "You can't touch Impmon right now.  He's hurt!"

      Impmon slowly opened an eye as it suddenly occurred to him that Sera just saved him from the twins.

      Ai and Makoto blinked up at Sera uncomprehendingly.

      "But we just wanted to hug him!" Ai whined.

      "Yeah!" Makoto agreed.

      "I figured that, but Impmon's so injured right now that even hugging would hurt," Sera said calmly yet firmly.

      "Aww...," the twins whined in perfect unison.

      Impmon simply stared, stupefied, between Sera and the twins.

      "Is it okay to talk to Impmon at least?" Makoto asked.

      "... If we promise not to hug him?" Ai added.

      Impmon hoped it was not; he honestly didn't want to speak to the twins after the whole D-Arc issue.  It hurt too much.

      Sera looked at Impmon in silence for a minute, her expression unreadable.  "... Maybe later," she said at last to Ai and Makoto.  "When Impmon's feeling better."

      "Awwwww!" Ai and Makoto pouted at Sera.

      Impmon sighed with relief.

      "Don't make that face," Sera scolded her cousins.  "You know it doesn't work on me."

      "But we're Impmon's Tamers!" Ai pouted, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

      "Yeah!  We know what's best for him!" Makoto said as he stood up as straight as he possibly could, trying to give off the illusion that he was older than he really was.

      "Feh... you throw away me and my D-Arc, then say that?  You're only my Tamers when it suits you!" Impmon growled before he could stop himself.  He slapped his claws over his mouth then flinched and sighed, as the damage had already been done.

      Ai and Makoto stared, stunned at Impmon, their eyes wide.

      Sera blinked and looked at Impmon, surprised.

      After a few moments the twins started to sniffle as tears came to their eyes.  Hiccupping and letting out tiny sad whimpers, the two cried because of Impmon's words.

      Impmon's eyes widened.  "Hey... no... don't... don't cry...," he muttered, feeling a sudden surge of guilt.

      Impmon's words seemed to have the opposite affect of what he had intended as Ai and Makoto started to cry even harder, bawling loudly.

      Impmon covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut.

      "No... just stop!  Just stop...  I...," Impmon fumbled.  "I didn't mean it!" he lied, desperately trying to stop them.

      Impmon's words fell on deaf ears as the twins continued to cry heart wrenchingly.

      Sera looked between Impmon and her cousins helplessly.  She had no idea of what to do.

      Impmon tried to resist the urge to curl up in a fetal position as he covered his ears, shakily.  "Stop it... just stop it!" he pleaded.

      The twins either didn't hear Impmon's pleas or paid them no mind as they continued to cry and sniffle loudly.

      "JUST STOP IT!" Impmon shrieked, trying not to start crying himself.

      Ai and Makoto paused at Impmon's cry, and then began to bawl even louder than before.  The two sobbed and howled as if they were in agony, each sound piercing Impmon's heart like a knife.

      Sera looked at Impmon and then down at her cousins, tensing.  She scowled down at them, angry at how they were hurting Impmon so badly.  "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" she ordered, her voice raised so as to be heard over their loud cries.

      Ai and Makoto stopped instantly, blinking away tears as they stared, stunned, at Sera.

      Impmon shivered and opened his eyes to stare at Sera, quietly.

      "I'm not just going to stand here and watch you hurt Impmon anymore!" Sera declared as she looked at the twins harshly.  "He's already in enough pain as it is, and all you're doing is making it worse."

      "B-but...," Ai whimpered, tears shimmering in her eyes.

      "But NOTHING," Sera snapped, cutting off any arguments.  "You say you know what's best for him, when really you only want what's best for yourselves.  You don't deserve to be Impmon's Tamers.  You don't deserve to be Tamers at all!"

      Ai and Makoto began to cry again, bawling loudly.

      Impmon cringed and covered his ears again, shutting his eyes tightly.

      I said stop that!" Sera ordered.  "Those crocodile tears might work on your parents when you don't get your way, but you KNOW it doesn't work on me."

      Again the two ceased crying at Sera's command, instead staring up at her with sad eyes and sniffling quietly.

      Impmon slowly opened an eye, uncertain, before he glanced at Sera in disbelief.

      "I want you to cut the sad act right now," Sera said firmly.  "You're not going to get your way this time.  Impmon's a living breathing person.  He's not a toy to play with and then throw away when you get bored with him or damage him!  I don't want to EVER see you trying to hurt him again!"

      "B-but...," Makoto tried to speak, but was cut off like Ai was.

      "No buts!  I'm not your parents and I won't put up with you being spoiled brats!"

      Impmon stared at Sera, unsure of how to react or if he even should react.  All he knew was that he felt very relieved.

      "You're going to apologize to Impmon right now for hurting him, and then we're all going to sit quietly until our friends get back here, and then we'll be going home," Sera said calmly, her piercing gaze never wavering from her cousins.  "Understand?"

      Ai and Makoto sniffled and hiccupped sadly as they nodded reluctantly.  "We're sorry Impmon...," they mumbled sadly at the same time, acting as if saying the words were painful for them.

      "... Ah...," Impmon blinked.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief and looked at Impmon, her expression softening into a look of concern.  "Are you okay now, Impmon?" she asked softly.

      Impmon nodded, numbly.

      Sera smiled and then glanced at her cousins, her expression hardening again.  "I trust that if we all sit down and wait neither of you will do anything to Impmon."  It wasn't a question; it was a command.

      Ai and Makoto nodded, wiping at their eyes and sniffling quietly.

      Carefully, Sera sat down next to Ai and Makoto, who looked at her with pouting expressions on their faces as they sat with her.

      Impmon glanced between Sera and the twins, unsure of what to think of the whole situation.

      Whenever Impmon looked at them, Ai and Makoto would look at him with sad eyes, as if expecting him to say or do something to change Sera's mind about anything she had said.

      Impmon decided to just stare at the floor from that point on, blinking and pondering.  Sera helped him?  Oddly enough, he almost felt secure.  That was a feeling he hadn't experienced since the whole ordeal with Ai and Makoto at the very beginning.

      A touch on his cheek made Impmon look up.

      Sera smiled at Impmon, her expression reassuring, as she rubbed his cheek gently with her hand.

      "TERRA DESTROYER!!!"

      Suddenly, the floor rumbled violently as dirt and rubble surged out from the darkened passageway to the one room where Tsuyosa had been held.  Children screamed, including Ai and Makoto, at the explosion, and many ran away in fear.  Sera started and whirled to look, eyes wide.  Impmon blinked and glanced in the direction as Tsuyosa and ChibiBa stumbled in to view, both looking dusty and tired.

      "You did-didn't have to do it that hard...," Tsuyosa coughed.  ChibiBa simply grunted, his eyes drooping and looking quite close to passing out.  Renamon, Ruki, Takato, Guilmon, and Jenrya carrying Terriermon followed shortly after Tsuyosa and ChibiBa, each of them looking haggard.

      "You look like hell," Impmon snorted.

      "You don't look so pretty yourself," Terriermon retorted.

      Tsuyosa hefted ChibiBa closer and glanced back at the others, wearily.  "Can we go now?" ChibiBa moaned as he clung to Tsuyosa's arm.

      Suddenly it seemed as if the tent started to shimmer and became translucent, allowing the area around it to be seen from within.

      "... Um...," Impmon blinked, then flailed.  "I didn't do it!"

      Within moments the tent, the circus equipment, and the remains of the crystals completely faded away.  All of the children that had been captured and kept within the fun house suddenly appeared with the rest of them in the vacant lot that had been left behind when the circus completely faded away.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly and glanced about, then turned to look at Takato blankly.  Takato looked around at where the tent used to be, and then at Tsuyosa.

      "... What happened?  Where are Pandamon and Black Tailmon?" Renamon asked.

      "I don't see them...," Ruki glanced around sharply.  "... Where could they run to?"

      "Hey, guys!" Hirokazu shouted, waving his arm wildly, as he, Kenta, Guardromon, Marine Angemon, and Culumon darted through the crowd of children towards the other Tamers.

      "Wow, you made it," Ruki smirked.  "I thought you were going to pray to the porcelain for days."  Renamon grinned slightly as she stood behind Ruki.

      Kenta blushed indignantly as Hirokazu smirked.  "I wondered that too," he commented.

      Jenrya blinked blurrily, looking slightly pale and disoriented but smiling nonetheless.

      "Culu, culu!" Culumon danced about in circles.  "All together again!  I'm so happy!"

      Takato blinked at the sight of the small white digimon.  "Culumon?  What're you doing here?" he asked.

      "The mean digimon asked me to join the circus because I was cute and they made me wash things!" Culumon's eyes watered up.  "It was boring!"

      Culumon then twirled about, smiling.  "But WONDER KAZU saved me!" he added, happily.

      "... Wonder Kazu?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      "... Wonder Kazu?" Takato echoed.

      "Wonder Kazu," Hirokazu beamed.

      "Wonder Kazu...," Kenta moaned as he sweat-dropped.

      "We beat up that Black Tailmon!" Hirokazu smirked.

      "Actually, she beat up herself," Guardromon pointed out.  "She kicked Marine Angemon too hard and made him ricochet back and bash her in the head."

      "..."  Hirokazu glowered at Guardromon.

      "Pipi," Marine Angemon muttered as he rubbed the lump on his head, which was covered in a pair of bandages Kenta put there.

      "Yeah, but that weird panda digimon dragged her off into his trailer with all the other digimon, and then the trailer disappeared before the tent and all the other stuff did," Kenta added.

      "The trailer?!" Ruki whirled, looking about.

      "That trailer must have been their portal," Renamon muttered.

      "If it's gone, that might mean they closed it," Jenrya guessed.

      "..."  Renamon narrowed her eyes, slightly.  "If they can leave at will, that means they can come back at will, too."

      "Oh great," Terriermon muttered.  "That means the circus'll probably be coming back into town sooner or later."

      Tsuyosa glanced at the digimon and Tamers, quietly.  He shifted uncomfortably, as he was vaguely aware of the fact that he simply didn't belong there.  He looked around, noting the kidnapped children fumbling off to return home in a daze.  With a quiet sigh, he hefted ChibiBa up again, then turned to disappear in the crowd.

      Before he could get far, a hand grabbing onto his wrist stopped Tsuyosa in his tracks.

      Tsuyosa's head snapped about, startled, to see who had grabbed his wrist.

      "Where are you going, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked, looking concernedly at the other boy.

      "I...," Tsuyosa fumbled.  "... I guess... somewhere..."  He wasn't sure where he wanted to go; he wasn't too inclined to go home to an empty house.

      "Why don't you come back with us?" Takato ventured.

      "Back?" Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then fidgeted.  "I... you all just seemed... maybe it'd be better if I just..."

      "I'm tired," ChibiBa muttered quietly so that neither boy could hear.  "If I weren't, I'd bite your hand good."

      Takato smiled warmly at Tsuyosa.  "You're one of us, Tsuyosa," he said.  "You belong here."

      "... O-okay...," Tsuyosa had no idea how else to respond.

      "Um... one question," Hirokazu suddenly appeared behind Takato, leaning forward.  Tsuyosa paled as he realized the boy had overheard everything.  "HOW are we getting back to camp?"

      "We can't walk and the digimon are too tired to carry us," Jenrya muttered.

      "Now what?" Ruki grunted.  "We could go home but then it'd just create too many questions."

      "My dad'd have a fit," Hirokazu sighed.  "I promised I wouldn't get in trouble while at camp!  He'd ground me for life."

      "My mom'll freak if she finds out what happened," Kenta pointed out worriedly.

      "Anyone have any ideas?" Jenrya asked.

      "Maybe we could take the bus?" Takato suggested.

      "Did anyone bring MONEY?" Ruki grunted.

      "Nope, I'm always broke," Hirokazu shrugged.

      "None here," Kenta sighed.

      "There goes that idea...," Jenrya sighed.

      "Um...," Tsuyosa began, quietly, as he set ChibiBa down and took off his backpack.  He unzipped it quietly and started to sort through it.  He paused and pulled out a small black wallet.  "I... have money."

      "Eh?" Hirokazu leaned over to peer inside the wallet as Tsuyosa opened it to check the contents.  Hirokazu's eyes widened drastically.  "HOLY!  He's LOADED!"

      Tsuyosa looked up, startled, at Hirokazu.

      "Hey, how about you treat us all for a 'thank you' pizza party before we go back?" Hirokazu suggested, smirking.  "Since we did save your butt and all."

      "U-um...," Tsuyosa blinked slowly, unsure of what to say.  "I... I guess so..."

      "WHOO HOO!  I'm starting to LIKE this kid!"


	16. Insane Insomnia

Authors' Notes: Well this is a surprising coincidence!  The day I, Yuki, am posting this chapter for Neon and me, is the same day as my birthday!  Which is today, June 2nd!  Enjoy the special birthday chapter of Dreaming to Reality!  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us!  Oh, and for those of you who worry about stumbling across the yaoi version of this story, you've just stumbled.  If you don't like yaoi, run to see the yaoi-free version.  Otherwise, enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 14: Insane Insomnia**

***~***

      The mood was light and cheerful as the Tamers and their digimon celebrated their victory in a local pizza parlor.

      "Whoo!" Hirokazu cackled as he grabbed a large slice of pizza and munched on it.  He and virtually all of the digimon had been devouring pizza as fast as it could be made and brought to their table.

      Employees eyed the unusual group warily, whispering to one another, but no one made a move to do anything about the digimon.

      Why get rid of a group that bought more pizza in an hour than the place sold in an entire day?

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly as he chewed on a slice of pizza, watching Hirokazu blankly as the boy ate enough to rival the digimon.

      "Sometimes I wonder if he's part digimon," Takato muttered to no one in particular as he sweat-dropped.

      "A-ah, sorry...," Kenta sweat-dropped as well.  Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled.

      "It's all right.  I have enough to cover it," Tsuyosa replied.

      Hirokazu beamed as he wrapped his arm around Tsuyosa's shoulders and leaned in close.  "Man, I'm REALLY liking you now, kid!" he smirked.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he blinked, confused and unused to such closeness.  "A-ah?"

      Takato suppressed a twitch as he eyed how close Hirokazu was to Tsuyosa and ground his teeth as he chewed his food.

      "You're not so bad, after all!" Hirokazu chuckled as he pulled Tsuyosa closer, lightly bopping Tsuyosa's forehead with his own.  Tsuyosa blushed lightly, unsure of how to respond.

      Takato couldn't suppress a slight twitch as he felt a pang of jealousy at Hirokazu and Tsuyosa's closeness, his chewing becoming even harsher from agitation.  He winced suddenly and suppressed a yelp as he ended up accidentally biting his cheek.

      "What's up with that?" Ruki hissed quietly, looking at Jenrya.

      Jenrya blinked at Ruki, pausing in his eating.  "What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

      "Why's he suddenly so nice?" Ruki grunted.

      "Maybe he's just grateful for being rescued," Jenrya ventured.

      "... But to this extent?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      "Don't be so suspicious, Ruki.  Maybe Takato and Tsuyosa just came to an understanding," Jenrya guessed, remembering the conversation he had with Takato the previous day.

      "... I noticed that, too," Ruki leaned closer, eying Takato.  "... Look at him."

      Jenrya blinked and glanced at Takato who continued to watch Tsuyosa and Hirokazu.  "... Yeah?" Jenrya asked slowly, feeling somewhat suspicious of something.

      "... You don't see it?" Ruki asked.

      "... It depends on what you mean," Jenrya replied as he eyed Takato and Tsuyosa.

      "... Doesn't he look a little... irritated?" Ruki chose her words, carefully.

      Jenrya nodded slowly as he continued to watch Takato.

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly, laughing nervously as Hirokazu cackled and dug his knuckles in to Tsuyosa's head, gently.  ChibiBa sat on the table, eating pizza.  He was too hurt to actually kill Hirokazu, so he simply glared.  Takato's eye twitched as he bit harshly into his pizza slice, trying his hardest to act as if he didn't care how close Hirokazu was to Tsuyosa.

      "... See?" Ruki hissed, quietly.

      "... Yeah," Jenrya muttered just as quietly as he nodded.

      "... What should we do?  If anything?" Ruki growled.

      "... What COULD we do?" Jenrya glanced at Ruki.  "I don't think it's our place to interfere in something like this."

      "... I guess so.  But he'd better not hurt Takato," Ruki growled.  "He's been through enough."

      Jenrya nodded in agreement and took another bite of pizza.

      "Ugh!  What IS that thing!?"

      Most of the Tamers looked up from what they were doing to stare at the person who had spoken.  One of the restaurant's waiters was looking at the digimon in disgust as he held a tray containing a freshly baked pizza.  He had a pizza cutter in his other hand, which he held as if he were ready to use it as a weapon.

      ChibiBa blinked, then scowled.  "Oh great, an idiot."

      Renamon sniffed disdainfully as she leaned against the wall, quietly munching.

      "I know what you are!" the waiter cried as he waved the pizza cutter around at the digimon.  "You're some of those monsters that were on the news a while back!"

      Ruki twitched slightly as she tapped her fingers against the table.

      "Hey, man, watch what you're doing with that thing!" Hirokazu barked.

      "... Oh man...," Kenta's glasses fogged up.

      Takato blinked slowly, then slapped his hand against his forehead as he was reminded of that train ride he had taken with Guilmon where that one guy had freaked out.

      "What are you doing in here!?" the waiter hissed.

      "Eating," Impmon retorted from his position at the table, before shoving more pizza in his mouth.

      "Yay!  More pizza!" Guilmon cried happily as he snatched the tray from the waiter eagerly.

      "YAAAAH!  STAY BACK, MONSTER!" the waiter cried as he attempted to cut Guilmon with his pizza cutter.  Guilmon yelped and smacked the cutter away, barely dodging the sharp blade as it went flying across the floor.

      "Guilmon!" Takato cried, as he stood up instantly, alarmed at the attack.  He whirled to glare at the waiter once he was sure that Guilmon was okay.  "What did you do that for!?" Takato demanded.  "All he wanted was some more pizza!"

      "My slicer!" the waiter yowled in alarm, completely ignoring Takato as he scrambled to get the cutter, acting as if it was the only thing that would allow him to survive his encounter with the digimon.  He whirled once the cutter was one again in his hands and pointed it threateningly at the digimon.  "STAY BACK!  I'M WARNING YOU!  I KNOW HOW TO USE THIS!"  He swung the cutter into the air for emphasis.

      "That's enough!" Tsuyosa barked, his voice suddenly very stern and cold.

      The waiter turned to look at Tsuyosa, holding the cutter in front of himself defensively.

      "I didn't pay you to act like an idiot!" Tsuyosa growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.  "I paid you to make pizza!  No one asked you to speak, share your opinions, or think about something you're obviously wrong about!  And since thinking obviously isn't your forte, I suggest you go back to the kitchen and make pizzas!"

      The waiter blinked slowly, staring at Tsuyosa as if he were insane.  "Who do you think you are, saying that to me...?" the waiter began, shaking with anger.

      Suddenly, the waiter's eyes widened and leaned forward to look at Tsuyosa.  "... H-hey, aren't you..."

      Tsuyosa glowered darkly.

      The waiter squeaked and scrambled back, nearly dropping the cutter.  "Oh crap, oh CRAP!  You're that Tengoku kid, aren't you!?"

      Tsuyosa glared.

      "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" the waiter scrambled back, almost hysterical.  "I didn't know!  I'm sorry!  Don't fire me!"

      Tsuyosa continued to glare as ChibiBa bared his teeth at the waiter.

      "I'm going!" the waiter yelped, then turned and bolted for the kitchen.  "I'm going, see!?"

      Tsuyosa glared after the waiter as he disappeared in to the back, looking quite panicked, then let out a low grunt.  "The NERVE of some people!" he grumbled.

      "I could go eat him like Pez candy," ChibiBa offered.

      "You'd get sick," Tsuyosa shook his head.

      "Dude, you rock!" Hirokazu smirked at Tsuyosa.

      "Well done," Renamon replied, calmly.

      "Yeah," Ruki grunted, grudgingly.

      "I wish I had that kind of effect on people," Kenta stared.

      "Piiipiii," Marine Angemon agreed before shoving an entire slice in to his mouth.

      "Heheh!  That'll teach him not to insult his best customers," Terriermon smirked before devouring another slice of pizza.

      "I could still eat him.  I'll just take some Pepto Bismal," ChibiBa offered.

      "Heh, did you see him run?" Impmon cackled.  "He looked so scared!"

      "That was great, Tsuyosa," Takato smiled.

      Tsuyosa blinked, and then blushed lightly.  "Oh-?  A-ah."

      Jenrya glanced at Tsuyosa and then leaned over towards Ruki.  "I have a feeling we might not have to worry too much about Takato," he whispered quietly.

      Ruki nodded slightly, smirking.

***~***

       Takato watched the scenery pass by outside of the bus window idly.

      Behind him, he could hear the dull snore of Hirokazu as he slumped against the window, drooling.  Kenta sat by Hirokazu, barely awake but managing as Marine Angemon cuddled in his lap.

      Ruki sat by Jenrya, her arms crossed and her head bowed as Culumon slumbered in her lap, muttering tiny 'culu' noises.  Jenrya leaned his arm against the window as he stared out it, struggling to stay awake and yawning occasionally.

      Terriermon, Renamon, Guardromon, and Guilmon had been left behind back in the city to keep an eye out for the circus just in case it reappeared.  While bringing them along might have been fun, they needed to stay behind, if for no other reason than to not worry their parents by them suddenly disappearing.

      Further back, Impmon snored quietly as he laid half on his own seat and half on Sera's lap, using her as a pillow.  A small snot bubble oozed in one of his nostrils.  Sera smiled tiredly at Impmon as she gently rubbed his tummy while he slept.  Impmon twitched slightly, then stretched leisurely as his leg started to twitch much like a dog's.  Sera giggled as she watched Impmon, quietly, however, so as not to wake him.

      A soft rustle by Takato brought his attention back to who was sitting next to him.

      Sitting next to Takato, tottering between consciousness and sleep, was Tsuyosa.  His eyes constantly started to droop as he swayed, ChibiBa clinging to his arm and snoring.

      "Hey, Tsuyosa," Takato said quietly as he blinked at Tsuyosa.  "Maybe we should switch seats so you can lean against the window."

      "Hmmm...?" was the only sound Tsuyosa made before he slumped against Takato, unconsciously, and closed his eyes.

      Takato blinked, startled, and then blushed deeply.  He glanced around at the others, but noticed that they were all too tired to pay attention to the two boys.  With an embarrassed smile, he looked back down at Tsuyosa and wrapped his arm around the other boy gently.

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly, then sighed and curled up, sleeping peacefully.  ChibiBa twitched slightly, then let out a snort and continued sleeping.

      Takato sighed as he leaned against the window and got as comfortable as he possibly could.  He watched Tsuyosa sleep through half-lidded eyes and covered his mouth with his free hand to stifle a yawn.

      It had been a long and tiring, but very interesting, night.

      There was a slight jarring motion as the bus suddenly slowed down, and then came to a halt.  Takato blinked and glanced out the window to see that they had already arrived at the camp.  He let out an inward sigh; he was just starting to enjoy having Tsuyosa lying against him too.

      "... Mmm?" Ruki looked up, obviously tired but too strong willed to let herself fall asleep.

      "We're here," the bus driver announced loudly, so as to awaken his passengers.

      Tsuyosa twitched slightly, but sighed and continued to sleep.

      Impmon opened an eye and muttered, fumbling up groggily as he wiped at his nose.

      Sera blinked blearily as she looked up at the bus driver.  She yawned and then stretched her arms tiredly before standing and stretching out the rest of her body, ridding herself of the kinks she gained from sitting in one spot for too long.

      Kenta nudged Hirokazu in the side with his elbow repeatedly.  Hirokazu muttered a grunt, then stretched and itched his stomach.  Marine Angemon continued to sleep in Kenta's lap, oblivious to everything but his sweet dreams.

      Jenrya rubbed at his eyes, trying to mentally will himself more awake and to have the strength to actually stand up.

      Takato glanced down at Tsuyosa and sighed helplessly as he couldn't stand up with the other boy leaning against him like that.  Takato couldn't bear to awaken Tsuyosa after everything that he went through.

      "You're back!"

      Juri peered over the seats at the front of the bus, standing on the steps.

      "Hey, Juri," Takato said quietly, which ended in a yawn.

      Juri walked down the isle towards them, then blinked and giggled.  "He looks comfortable," she winked.

      Takato blinked blankly for a moment as his sleepy mind processed her comment.  When he realized what Juri meant he blushed deeply.

      Juri grinned, then turned to the others.  "You're lucky.  The counselors never even noticed."

      "Good..." Ruki stood up, holding Culumon in her arms.  "That makes it easier..."

      "Whatever's scheduled for tomorrow, er, today, I'm skipping it," Sera muttered as she picked up Impmon.  Impmon yawned and slumped in Sera's arms, looking quite tired.

      Hirokazu fumbled up out of his seat, barely able to walk as he bumped in to chairs.  "... Sleeeeep... bed... NOW..."

      Kenta nodded as he tried to carry Marine Angemon and lead Hirokazu off the bus at the same time.  "Yeah...  Sleep sounds great right now...," he yawned.

      Jenrya stood up slowly and stretched before he scratched his head.  "I think we'll all be out for the rest of the day," he pointed out, tired.

      "Uh... guys?" Takato muttered, blushing as he glanced at Tsuyosa who had essentially pinned him to his seat.  "I think one of us needs to carry Tsuyosa..."

      ChibiBa twitched slightly, then sighed and continued to sleep, as Tsuyosa remained oblivious, slumbering.

      "Bleghhh..." Hirokazu mumbled, then squealed as he fell down the stairs out of the bus.

      "Hirokazu?" Kenta blinked down at his friend.

      "...Ow."

      Sera glanced at Tsuyosa as she shuffled down the isle, and then looked at the others.  "... I guess I'll carry him," she muttered, guessing that she might be the only one that could who was actually awake.

      Impmon blinked, then grunted irritably as Sera set him down.

      "Sorry," Sera muttered, casting Impmon an apologetic look.  She then leaned over and picked up Tsuyosa, cradling him gently in her arms.  Tsuyosa twitched slightly before relaxing, ChibiBa clinging to Tsuyosa's arm with a death grip.

      Takato felt a mixture of relief from Sera not making a comment about the position he and Tsuyosa had been in, and jealousy from the fact that Sera was now carrying Tsuyosa too close for his liking.

      Impmon scowled slightly as he felt a pang of irritation; he wanted to be carried, not that boy.

      Ruki glanced at Takato, then chuckled quietly as she left the bus and headed for the cabin with Culumon.  Jenrya merely shook his head as he followed after Ruki.  Takato blinked and glanced at Ruki's retreating form, confused.

      Careful so as not to trip on the steps like Hirokazu did, Sera left the bus, making sure not to bump Tsuyosa or ChibiBa into the doorway as she did so.  Takato quickly stood up and followed after Sera, not wanting to let Tsuyosa out of his sight.  Impmon trotted after the others, sulkily, and tried to walk as close to Sera as he could.

      Juri was the last one off of the bus.  She watched the others walk off towards their assigned cabin, a small smile on her face.  "I think we missed a lot," she said to her puppet.  "Yip!  Yup!  A whole lot!" 'it' replied.  She then quickly darted after the others.

      The group eventually reached the cabin and nearly everyone fumbled for their beds, wanting nothing more than to just collapse and sleep until the next morning.

      Kenta slunk in to the cabin and placed Marine Angemon on his bed, then flopped down and buried his face in the pillow.

      Ruki walked, slowly, in to the girl's side of the cabin and disappeared from sight, no doubt intent on sleep just as much as the boys.

      Juri followed after Ruki, but paused to smile at the tired boys.  "Good night," she said cheerfully yet quietly before closing the door to the girls' side.

      Jenrya didn't pay much attention to the others as he shuffled over to his bed and plopped down onto it, exhausted.

      Impmon stood by the doorway and watched Sera as she walked in to the cabin, carrying Tsuyosa.  Sera gently lay Tsuyosa down onto his bed, careful not to lay him atop of ChibiBa, who was still dangling from his arm.  Tsuyosa sighed and snuggled in to the bed, unconsciously pulling ChibiBa close.  Sera took the covers and placed them over Tsuyosa and ChibiBa, tucking them in automatically, as she was used to doing the same thing to her cousins many times.  Takato watched Sera and Tsuyosa, fighting the urge to fall down onto his bed and slip quietly into a coma.

      Impmon yawned wide, then blinked and rubbed his eyes.

      Once Sera moved away from Tsuyosa, Takato flopped onto his bed with a thump.  Sera walked over to Impmon and kneeled down next to him before picking him up.  She then stood and glanced at the others.  "Night," she yawned.

      Impmon smirked and leaned against Sera, closing his eyes.  "Go to sleep already," he grunted.

      "Right, right," Sera mumbled as she left the cabin, holding Impmon close.

      Meanwhile, Hirokazu stared at his bed almost uncomprehending, before he paused.  "... It's hot," he proclaimed, then proceeded to strip down to his birthday suit and climb in to bed.

      Takato blinked uncomprehendingly at Hirokazu for a few moments before his eyes snapped open wide.  "HIROKAZU!?" he yowled, nearly falling out of his bed.

      "What?" Hirokazu muttered, groggily.

      "H-hey, did he just...?" Kenta peered up.

      "You're naked!" Takato exclaimed, pointing.

      "It's HOT!" Hirokazu retorted.  "Now I'm cool!"

      "DUDE!" Kenta yelped and covered his eyes.  "Get some pants on, man!"

      "Free as a breeze, man.  Free as a breeze!"

      Jenrya blinked slowly and then shoved the pillow over his head.  "It's too early in the morning for this...," he complained this voice muffled through the pillow.

      "Wear underwear at least!" Takato said as he looked away, blushing.

      "If it bothers you, don't look!" Hirokazu snorted as he got comfortable.

      "Shut up or I'll kill you."

      ChibiBa opened an eye and glanced around the room.

      Instantly the boys quieted down, deciding that it'd be best to ignore Hirokazu's nudity and go right to sleep.  ChibiBa sighed with relief and snuggled back under the blanket.

      Just when it seemed that they would all get some well-deserved rest, the obnoxious blaring of an air horn pierced the peaceful morning air.

      "Grf...?" Hirokazu grunted as he peered up.  "What the hell..."

      "Good morning everyone!" came the overly cheerful sound of Bambi's voice, amplified by a bullhorn.

      "... Uuuughh...," Jenrya buried his face in his pillow.

      "Time for everyone to get up and greet the day!  Everyone get dressed and gather 'round outside!" Bambi chirped, her voice tinny from the bullhorn.

      "... Someone shut her up...," Takato moaned and covered his head with his pillow to block out the noises.

      The air horn blared through the air once again, impossible to ignore.

      "Shoot her.  Just shoot her," Kenta moaned as he covered his ears.  "I wanna sleep!"

      "Wakie, wakie, everybody!" Bambi repeated.  "I'll be going from cabin to cabin to wake up the stragglers!"

      Tsuyosa twitched slightly, letting out a tiny whimper.

      Click, clack.

      ChibiBa jumped out of the bed, his claws hitting the floor and clattering lightly.  His expression was unreadable as he pattered slowly across the floor, passing the boys as he made for the door.  They didn't notice the small Mega's passing as they were all trying to tune out the obnoxious noises Bambi was making outside.

      Click, clack, clatter.

      ChibiBa paused by the door and looked up at the knob, before he reached up and opened the door.

      "WAKIE, WAKIE EVERY-huh?" Bambi blinked, halting in her overly cheerful wake up call to stare at ChibiBa.

      ChibiBa looked up at Bambi, his expression still unreadable.  The two locked eyes for a minute or so, neither speaking as they stared.

      At least, until ChibiBa took a deep breath.

      "_GRRRRROOOAAAAAAWWWWRRRRRRRRR!!!!_" ChibiBa roared, sounding much like an enraged demon.

      Takato yowled at the roar, his eyes snapping open wide as he fell out of bed with a thump.  Hirokazu squealed as he fumbled out as well, trying to cling to his bed but only succeeding in pulling the blanket and sheets off the bed with him.  Kenta screamed in terror and quickly dove off his bed and then under it to hide from ChibiBa.  Jenrya jumped nearly a meter into the air as he cried out in shock.

      Bambi's eyes widened as she paled drastically.  With an unearthly shriek of terror, she fled from ChibiBa as fast as she possibly could.  "GOBLIN!!!" she screamed as she ran.

      ChibiBa bared his fangs at Bambi, then let out an exasperated sigh and closed the door.  Quietly, he padded back past the boys and over to Tsuyosa's bed.  ChibiBa ignored the boys as he trotted by, calm and collected.  He didn't even look at them as he walked over to Tsuyosa's bed, who had slept through the entire thing.  The boys all stared at ChibiBa as he calmly climbed back into bed with Tsuyosa and snuggled up next to his Tamer.

      ChibiBa glanced at them, and then smirked.

      "Sleep time now."

      Then, he curled up against Tsuyosa and closed his eyes.

      The boys nodded numbly as they climbed back into their beds, but all of them doubted that they'd be able to get sleep any time soon.

***~***

      Impmon was dreaming.

      He didn't know how he knew that he was dreaming and yet not be awakened by that fact, but he was.

      Impmon glanced around, feeling lethargic, as he tried to survey his dream surroundings.  He recognized the black space filled with glowing green symbols almost instantly.  It was the crossroads between the Digital World and the Real World.  He had been in this place three times before; before he first appeared in the Real World, when Chatsuramon had pulled him back into the Digital World, and when he and the other digimon had been taken from their Tamers and forced back into the Digital World in their In-Training forms.

      Impmon blinked slowly as he swallowed, a sense of unease causing him to shiver.  "Why...?"

      "Where am I?"

      Impmon turned at the sound of a familiar voice behind him.

      Sera stood a few meters away from Impmon, dressed in her pajamas, and looking around, confused at her surroundings.

      Impmon blinked slowly.  "S-Sera?"

      Sera took a few steps as she continued to look around, not noticing Impmon or his voice.  Oddly her pajama sleeve was not torn, as it should have been when she had ripped off strips from it to bandage Impmon before.

      She paused as she reached out to touch a floating question mark, but it disappeared as her hand came close to it.

      "... Oi!  Sera!" Impmon tried again.

      Still Sera didn't seem to hear Impmon.  "Am I dreaming?" she wondered aloud as she looked upwards.

      "No, I'M dreaming," Impmon muttered as he realized that Sera was just part of his dream.

      It was then that a sudden spark of gold appeared amidst the chaos of green numbers, catching Impmon and Sera's attention at the same time.  It was a small pinprick of light, and yet it glowed as brightly as a star.

      Sera gasped as she saw the golden light, her eyes widening.  "... That's...," she breathed as she reached out hesitantly towards the miniature star, drawn to it by some unknown force.

      Impmon stared at the light, confused.

      "What is...?"

      The instant Sera's hand touched the light it flared brilliantly, blinding both Sera and Impmon for a brief moment before dying down to a gentle glow.

      Floating above Sera's upturned palms, glowing with a gentle golden light, was Impmon's D-Arc.

      Impmon rubbed his eyes, wincing, then blinked repeatedly and stared in shock.

      "W-what?  It's my... my...!"

      Small sparks of purple light darted about in every direction from the D-Arc as it was bathed in a golden glow.

      Sera stared in awe at the display of lights surrounding the white and purple device floating scant centimeters above her hands.  "What... what is...?" she breathed, confused.

      "... Is that how...?"

      The glow slowly died down as the D-Arc gently landed into Sera's hands.  She clutched the small device tightly, barely daring to believe it was really hers, and brought it close to her chest.  "... It's so warm..."

      Impmon blushed lightly as he fidgeted.

      Suddenly everything started to fade for Impmon, as if he were waking up.

      "A-ah?" Impmon looked around, panicked.  "What NOW!?"

      As the space between worlds faded away, the Real World seemed to fade in to replace it.  In an instant, Impmon knew exactly where he was.  He was where it all started for him, where he first appeared in the Real World.

      "Oh, scenery change?" Impmon tilted his head.  "... But why here?"

      Suddenly there was the annoying high-pitched beeping of the alarm clock as it went off from its place on the nightstand.

      Impmon jumped and clamped his claws over his ears, wincing.

      An agitated groan came from the person sleeping within the bed, hidden under the covers.  A hand reached out, fumbling for the alarm's off switch.  After a few moments of trying, the hidden person managed to turn it off.

      As they arose from beneath the blanket with a grunt of irritation, the person was revealed to be Sera, looking quite tired.  She yawned and stretched, not noticing the small white and purple device clutched tightly in one of her hands.  "... I hate mornings," she muttered as she brushed the hair that fell in front of her face away with her free hand.

      Impmon slowly lowered his claws, and then blinked.  "... Sera?" he muttered, surprised.  "Again?"

      Sera looked down in the D-Arc in her hand once she finally noticed it, and blinked almost uncomprehendingly at it.  "... What...?" she muttered as she became more awake.  "This is from my dream..."

      "My D-Arc..." Impmon stared.

      Sera turned the small device over in her hands slowly unable to believe it was real.  "... But... how could that be...?" she wondered aloud.  "... It was just a dream...  Wasn't it?"

      She looked up and shook her head.  "Of course it was," she scolded herself, becoming more awake every minute.  "Mom or dad must have given it to me while I was half asleep and it gave me that dream, and I just don't remember them giving it to me now."  She sighed in disappointment as she looked back down at the D-Arc.  "Cool stuff like magical items appearing from dreams can't happen in real life..."

      "... ...," Impmon blinked slowly.

      Carefully Sera placed the D-Arc down onto her nightstand before she stood up and stretched.  She then walked over to her closet in silence and promptly started to undress.

      Impmon squealed and covered his eyes, blushing.

      Impmon waited tensely, his cheeks blushing, for Sera to finish dressing.  Dream or not, he figured that peeping at girls would end in disaster for him.

      There were only the sounds cloth swishing, drawers being opened and closed, and the soft tinkling of metal for the next few minutes.

      "..."  Impmon slowly peeked through his claws, curiously.

      Sera glanced into the full-length mirror next to her closet as she finished clipping on her earrings, fully dressed save for her shoes.

      Impmon sighed with relief, though he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

      Sera brushed her hair back from where it had fallen over her shoulders, and then paused to look at something she spotted in the mirror.

      "..."

      She turned around and walked towards her nightstand to pick up the D-Arc from where she had placed it.  She carried it with her over to her desk and sat down in her chair before examining it.  "A card reader...," she muttered.

      Impmon watched, curiously.

      Sera placed the D-Arc down before she reached over to a small plastic box that was covered with digimon stickers.  She reached into her pocket, pulling out her chain and the key ring attached to the end of it.  She flipped through the keys until she came upon a small, inconspicuous looking one, which she used to unlock the box.

      Impmon blinked again, then tried to peer over her shoulders to see what she was doing.

      When the box was opened, numerous cards covered in plastic were revealed inside of it.

      Impmon tilted his head, blinking slowly.

      Sera flipped through the cards carefully until she paused at a particular one and pulled it out.  "Ah, here it is," she smiled and admired the card.

      The card encased in a worn, yet hard plastic slipcover was an Impmon card.  It was lined with gold and had gold lettering painted on it, with the image on the front being of a beautiful holographic design, proudly displaying Impmon smirking and holding a fireball over his claw.

      Impmon blinked, then cackled.  "Whoo!  I have a card!?"

      "What better card to try out with my new card reader than my most precious one?" Sera asked no one in particular.  Smiling, she cautiously removed the card from where it lay within its casing, taking great care not to damage the card in any way.

      Impmon flushed, happily.  "... Well, who else?  I am the most wonderful digimon ever!"

      Sera, like before, didn't seem to hear Impmon, or realize that he was there.

      Once the card was free of its casing, she ran her fingers lightly against the surface as she gazed at it with reverence.  "... If only...," she whispered.  She sighed, and then shook her head slightly to bring herself back to reality.

      Careful to get the alignment right, Sera placed the card next to the reading slot on the side of the D-Arc, ready to slash it through.  Just as she started to move the card downwards, a knock at the door caused her to halt and miss seeing the D-Arc start to spark.

      Impmon flailed, growling.  "No, keep pulling!  Forget the door!" he snarled, despite the fact that it was no use.

      "Seeeeeraaaaaa," came a familiar voice from the other side of the door.

      Impmon tensed, then stared at the door.  "Mako-chan?"

      "What?" Sera answered, looking a bit miffed at being interrupted.

      "Ai's been bad!" Makoto cried as he opened the door.

      "Can't it wait?  I'm kinda busy here," Sera sighed.

      "... But the couch is on fire."

      Impmon's jaw dropped.

      "WHAT!?" Sera shrieked, instantly on her feet.

      "The couch is on fire," Makoto repeated.

      "... At least I'm not the one on fire this time," Impmon observed.

      "It's not MY fault!" Ai cried from someplace beyond the range of sight provided through the doorway.

      Impmon glanced back at the D-Arc, absently, and then yelped as he saw the little device slide his card through by itself and spit it out on the floor.

      Sera muttered a particularly colorful word as she darted to the door, pausing only to wait for Makoto to move out of the way.  She was too much in a panic to notice the bright purple and gold light that had flared from both the D-Arc and the card behind her.

      Impmon watched Sera leave, quietly, then looked at the D-Arc and card again.

      "... Why do I feel a sudden sense of Deja Vu?"

      Impmon stared, stunned, as the light faded away to reveal himself standing where the card once was.

      The door closed as the other Impmon looked around, confused and disoriented at his surroundings.

      Impmon couldn't look away as he watched himself fumble about, disoriented.

      "I remember this..."

      For some reason Impmon suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to look someplace else.  He forced his eyes away from himself and out the window, where his gaze had been drawn.

      Floating outside the window was a Digignome.

      Impmon jerked, surprised by the sudden sight, then stared in disbelief.

      The Digignome watched Impmon's other self and then shook its head, an oddly sad expression crossing its features.

      "It's... one of those gnome things...," Impmon breathed.

      The Digignome then turned to look at Impmon, somehow knowing he was there.  It's expression lit up with joy and it started to laugh in a bubbly manner.

      As the Digignome laughed, Impmon oddly felt himself become lighter, and the world started to fade into a dream-like haze.

      With a sharp gasp, Impmon sat up and found himself back in the cabin at camp, staring face to face with a real Digignome.

      The Digignome smiled at Impmon brightly as it hovered over him.

      Impmon opened his mouth to demand an explanation, and then yelped as an earth-shattering roar caused the entire cabin to quiver and rattle.

      The Digignome made a frightened sound as it quickly darted through the air and disappeared as it apparently went through the wall.

      Impmon fell out of the bed on to his head with a squeak, and then twitched his leg as pain laced through his head.

      Sera started awake at the roaring, sitting up instantly as she was forced from slumber.  "Wha-what's going on?" she asked as she looked around wildly.

      "... ChibiBa.  I recognize that voice anywhere."

      "Does that mean they're in trouble?" Sera asked and then blinked as she noticed Impmon was no longer beside her in the bed.  She glanced around and then peered over to bed to look down at the fallen digimon.  "Uh, are you okay, Impmon?"

      "I don't think so...  We'd be hearing more screaming...," Impmon muttered as he fumbled up.  "... And I'm fine."

      "That's good," Sera sighed in relief.  She then reached over to pick Impmon up and pull him back into bed with her.

      Impmon rubbed his head, and then flopped back down on the bed.  "Anyway."  He stretched, then closed his eyes and sighed.  "Good night again!"

      "Good night again to you too," Sera smiled as she wrapped her arms around Impmon snuggled up closely to him.

      Impmon opened one eye, blushing, before he closed it again and sighed.

      Sera closed her eyes once she got comfortable, and began to drift back off to sleep.

      As Impmon slowly drifted to sleep, he idly wondered if Sera would of smacked him for peeping on her dream self.


	17. Insane Insomnia (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: Well this is a surprising coincidence!  The day I, Yuki, am posting this chapter for Neon and me, is the same day as my birthday!  Which is today, June 2nd!  Enjoy the special birthday chapter of Dreaming to Reality!  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us!  Oh, and for those of you who worry about stumbling across the yaoi version of this story, don't worry you're safe.  If accidentally came here looking for the uncensored version of the story, then you might wanna try again, because this is the yaoi-free version.  Otherwise, enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 14: Insane Insomnia**

***~***

      The mood was light and cheerful as the Tamers and their digimon celebrated their victory in a local pizza parlor.

      "Whoo!" Hirokazu cackled as he grabbed a large slice of pizza and munched on it.  He and virtually all of the digimon had been devouring pizza as fast as it could be made and brought to their table.

      Employees eyed the unusual group warily, whispering to one another, but no one made a move to do anything about the digimon.

      Why get rid of a group that bought more pizza in an hour than the place sold in an entire day?

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly as he chewed on a slice of pizza, watching Hirokazu blankly as the boy ate enough to rival the digimon.

      "Sometimes I wonder if he's part digimon," Takato muttered to no one in particular as he sweat-dropped.

      "A-ah, sorry...," Kenta sweat-dropped as well.  Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled.

      "It's all right.  I have enough to cover it," Tsuyosa replied.

      Hirokazu beamed as he wrapped his arm around Tsuyosa's shoulders and leaned in close.  "Man, I'm REALLY liking you now, kid!" he smirked.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he blinked, confused and unused to such closeness.  "A-ah?"

      Takato suppressed a twitch as he eyed how close Hirokazu was to Tsuyosa and ground his teeth as he chewed his food.

      "You're not so bad, after all!" Hirokazu chuckled as he pulled Tsuyosa closer, lightly bopping Tsuyosa's forehead with his own.  Tsuyosa blushed lightly, unsure of how to respond.

      "What's up with that?" Ruki hissed quietly, looking at Jenrya.

      Jenrya blinked at Ruki, pausing in his eating.  "What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

      "Why's he suddenly so nice?" Ruki grunted.

      "Maybe he's just grateful for being rescued," Jenrya ventured.

      "... But to this extent?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      "Don't be so suspicious, Ruki.  Maybe Takato and Tsuyosa just came to an understanding," Jenrya guessed, remembering the conversation he had with Takato the previous day.

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly, laughing nervously as Hirokazu cackled and dug his knuckles in to Tsuyosa's head, gently.  ChibiBa sat on the table, eating pizza.  He was too hurt to actually kill Hirokazu, so he simply glared.

      "... I guess so.  But he'd better not hurt Takato," Ruki growled.  "He's been through enough."

      Jenrya nodded in agreement and took another bite of pizza.

      "Ugh!  What IS that thing!?"

      Most of the Tamers looked up from what they were doing to stare at the person who had spoken.  One of the restaurant's waiters was looking at the digimon in disgust as he held a tray containing a freshly baked pizza.  He had a pizza cutter in his other hand, which he held as if he were ready to use it as a weapon.

      ChibiBa blinked, then scowled.  "Oh great, an idiot."

      Renamon sniffed disdainfully as she leaned against the wall, quietly munching.

      "I know what you are!" the waiter cried as he waved the pizza cutter around at the digimon.  "You're some of those monsters that were on the news a while back!"

      Ruki twitched slightly as she tapped her fingers against the table.

      "Hey, man, watch what you're doing with that thing!" Hirokazu barked.

      "... Oh man...," Kenta's glasses fogged up.

      Takato blinked slowly, then slapped his hand against his forehead as he was reminded of that train ride he had taken with Guilmon where that one guy had freaked out.

      "What are you doing in here!?" the waiter hissed.

      "Eating," Impmon retorted from his position at the table, before shoving more pizza in his mouth.

      "Yay!  More pizza!" Guilmon cried happily as he snatched the tray from the waiter eagerly.

      "YAAAAH!  STAY BACK, MONSTER!" the waiter cried as he attempted to cut Guilmon with his pizza cutter.  Guilmon yelped and smacked the cutter away, barely dodging the sharp blade as it went flying across the floor.

      "Guilmon!" Takato cried, as he stood up instantly, alarmed at the attack.  He whirled to glare at the waiter once he was sure that Guilmon was okay.  "What did you do that for!?" Takato demanded.  "All he wanted was some more pizza!"

      "My slicer!" the waiter yowled in alarm, completely ignoring Takato as he scrambled to get the cutter, acting as if it was the only thing that would allow him to survive his encounter with the digimon.  He whirled once the cutter was one again in his hands and pointed it threateningly at the digimon.  "STAY BACK!  I'M WARNING YOU!  I KNOW HOW TO USE THIS!"  He swung the cutter into the air for emphasis.

      "That's enough!" Tsuyosa barked, his voice suddenly very stern and cold.

      The waiter turned to look at Tsuyosa, holding the cutter in front of himself defensively.

      "I didn't pay you to act like an idiot!" Tsuyosa growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.  "I paid you to make pizza!  No one asked you to speak, share your opinions, or think about something you're obviously wrong about!  And since thinking obviously isn't your forte, I suggest you go back to the kitchen and make pizzas!"

      The waiter blinked slowly, staring at Tsuyosa as if he were insane.  "Who do you think you are, saying that to me...?" the waiter began, shaking with anger.

      Suddenly, the waiter's eyes widened and leaned forward to look at Tsuyosa.  "... H-hey, aren't you..."

      Tsuyosa glowered darkly.

      The waiter squeaked and scrambled back, nearly dropping the cutter.  "Oh crap, oh CRAP!  You're that Tengoku kid, aren't you!?"

      Tsuyosa glared.

      "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" the waiter scrambled back, almost hysterical.  "I didn't know!  I'm sorry!  Don't fire me!"

      Tsuyosa continued to glare as ChibiBa bared his teeth at the waiter.

      "I'm going!" the waiter yelped, then turned and bolted for the kitchen.  "I'm going, see!?"

      Tsuyosa glared after the waiter as he disappeared in to the back, looking quite panicked, then let out a low grunt.  "The NERVE of some people!" he grumbled.

      "I could go eat him like Pez candy," ChibiBa offered.

      "You'd get sick," Tsuyosa shook his head.

      "Dude, you rock!" Hirokazu smirked at Tsuyosa.

      "Well done," Renamon replied, calmly.

      "Yeah," Ruki grunted, grudgingly.

      "I wish I had that kind of effect on people," Kenta stared.

      "Piiipiii," Marine Angemon agreed before shoving an entire slice in to his mouth.

      "Heheh!  That'll teach him not to insult his best customers," Terriermon smirked before devouring another slice of pizza.

      "I could still eat him.  I'll just take some Pepto Bismal," ChibiBa offered.

      "Heh, did you see him run?" Impmon cackled.  "He looked so scared!"

      "That was great, Tsuyosa," Takato smiled.

      Tsuyosa blinked, and then blushed lightly.  "Oh-?  A-ah."

      Jenrya glanced at Tsuyosa and then leaned over towards Ruki.  "I have a feeling we might not have to worry too much about Takato," he whispered quietly.

      Ruki nodded slightly, smirking.

***~***

       Takato watched the scenery pass by outside of the bus window idly.

      Behind him, he could hear the dull snore of Hirokazu as he slumped against the window, drooling.  Kenta sat by Hirokazu, barely awake but managing as Marine Angemon cuddled in his lap.

      Ruki sat by Jenrya, her arms crossed and her head bowed as Culumon slumbered in her lap, muttering tiny 'culu' noises.  Jenrya leaned his arm against the window as he stared out it, struggling to stay awake and yawning occasionally.

      Terriermon, Renamon, Guardromon, and Guilmon had been left behind back in the city to keep an eye out for the circus just in case it reappeared.  While bringing them along might have been fun, they needed to stay behind, if for no other reason than to not worry their parents by them suddenly disappearing.

      Further back, Impmon snored quietly as he laid half on his own seat and half on Sera's lap, using her as a pillow.  A small snot bubble oozed in one of his nostrils.  Sera smiled tiredly at Impmon as she gently rubbed his tummy while he slept.  Impmon twitched slightly, then stretched leisurely as his leg started to twitch much like a dog's.  Sera giggled as she watched Impmon, quietly, however, so as not to wake him.

      A soft rustle by Takato brought his attention back to who was sitting next to him.

      Sitting next to Takato, tottering between consciousness and sleep, was Tsuyosa.  His eyes constantly started to droop as he swayed, ChibiBa clinging to his arm and snoring.

      "Hey, Tsuyosa," Takato said quietly as he blinked at Tsuyosa.  "Maybe we should switch seats so you can lean against the window."

      "Hmmm...?" was the only sound Tsuyosa made before he slumped against Takato, unconsciously, and closed his eyes.

      Takato sighed as he leaned against the window and got as comfortable as he possibly could.  He watched Tsuyosa sleep through half-lidded eyes and covered his mouth with his free hand to stifle a yawn.

      It had been a long and tiring, but very interesting, night.

      There was a slight jarring motion as the bus suddenly slowed down, and then came to a halt.  Takato blinked and glanced out the window to see that they had already arrived at the camp.  He let out an inward sigh; he was just starting to enjoy having Tsuyosa lying against him too.

      "... Mmm?" Ruki looked up, obviously tired but too strong willed to let herself fall asleep.

      "We're here," the bus driver announced loudly, so as to awaken his passengers.

      Tsuyosa twitched slightly, but sighed and continued to sleep.

      Impmon opened an eye and muttered, fumbling up groggily as he wiped at his nose.

      Sera blinked blearily as she looked up at the bus driver.  She yawned and then stretched her arms tiredly before standing and stretching out the rest of her body, ridding herself of the kinks she gained from sitting in one spot for too long.

      Kenta nudged Hirokazu in the side with his elbow repeatedly.  Hirokazu muttered a grunt, then stretched and itched his stomach.  Marine Angemon continued to sleep in Kenta's lap, oblivious to everything but his sweet dreams.

      Jenrya rubbed at his eyes, trying to mentally will himself more awake and to have the strength to actually stand up.

      Takato glanced down at Tsuyosa and sighed helplessly as he couldn't stand up with the other boy leaning against him like that.  Takato couldn't bear to awaken Tsuyosa after everything that he went through.

      "You're back!"

      Juri peered over the seats at the front of the bus, standing on the steps.

      "Hey, Juri," Takato said quietly, which ended in a yawn.

      Juri grinned.  "You're lucky.  The counselors never even noticed."

      "Good..." Ruki stood up, holding Culumon in her arms.  "That makes it easier..."

      "Whatever's scheduled for tomorrow, er, today, I'm skipping it," Sera muttered as she picked up Impmon.  Impmon yawned and slumped in Sera's arms, looking quite tired.

      Hirokazu fumbled up out of his seat, barely able to walk as he bumped in to chairs.  "... Sleeeeep... bed... NOW..."

      Kenta nodded as he tried to carry Marine Angemon and lead Hirokazu off the bus at the same time.  "Yeah...  Sleep sounds great right now...," he yawned.

      Jenrya stood up slowly and stretched before he scratched his head.  "I think we'll all be out for the rest of the day," he pointed out, tired.

      "Uh... guys?" Takato muttered, as he glanced at Tsuyosa who had essentially pinned him to his seat.  "I think one of us needs to carry Tsuyosa..."

      ChibiBa twitched slightly, then sighed and continued to sleep, as Tsuyosa remained oblivious, slumbering.

      "Bleghhh..." Hirokazu mumbled, then squealed as he fell down the stairs out of the bus.

      "Hirokazu?" Kenta blinked down at his friend.

      "...Ow."

      Sera glanced at Tsuyosa as she shuffled down the isle, and then looked at the others.  "... I guess I'll carry him," she muttered, guessing that she might be the only one that could who was actually awake.

      Impmon blinked, then grunted irritably as Sera set him down.

      "Sorry," Sera muttered, casting Impmon an apologetic look.  She then leaned over and picked up Tsuyosa, cradling him gently in her arms.  Tsuyosa twitched slightly before relaxing, ChibiBa clinging to Tsuyosa's arm with a death grip.

      Impmon scowled slightly as he felt a pang of irritation; he wanted to be carried, not that boy.

      Ruki glanced at Takato, then chuckled quietly as she left the bus and headed for the cabin with Culumon.  Jenrya merely shook his head as he followed after Ruki.  Takato blinked and glanced at Ruki's retreating form, confused.

      Careful so as not to trip on the steps like Hirokazu did, Sera left the bus, making sure not to bump Tsuyosa or ChibiBa into the doorway as she did so.  Takato quickly stood up and followed after Sera, not wanting to let Tsuyosa out of his sight.  Impmon trotted after the others, sulkily, and tried to walk as close to Sera as he could.

      Juri was the last one off of the bus.  She watched the others walk off towards their assigned cabin, a small smile on her face.  "I think we missed a lot," she said to her puppet.  "Yip!  Yup!  A whole lot!" 'it' replied.  She then quickly darted after the others.

      The group eventually reached the cabin and nearly everyone fumbled for their beds, wanting nothing more than to just collapse and sleep until the next morning.

      Kenta slunk in to the cabin and placed Marine Angemon on his bed, then flopped down and buried his face in the pillow.

      Ruki walked, slowly, in to the girl's side of the cabin and disappeared from sight, no doubt intent on sleep just as much as the boys.

      Juri followed after Ruki, but paused to smile at the tired boys.  "Good night," she said cheerfully yet quietly before closing the door to the girls' side.

      Jenrya didn't pay much attention to the others as he shuffled over to his bed and plopped down onto it, exhausted.

      Impmon stood by the doorway and watched Sera as she walked in to the cabin, carrying Tsuyosa.  Sera gently lay Tsuyosa down onto his bed, careful not to lay him atop of ChibiBa, who was still dangling from his arm.  Tsuyosa sighed and snuggled in to the bed, unconsciously pulling ChibiBa close.  Sera took the covers and placed them over Tsuyosa and ChibiBa, tucking them in automatically, as she was used to doing the same thing to her cousins many times.  Takato watched Sera and Tsuyosa, fighting the urge to fall down onto his bed and slip quietly into a coma.

      Impmon yawned wide, then blinked and rubbed his eyes.

      Once Sera moved away from Tsuyosa, Takato flopped onto his bed with a thump.  Sera walked over to Impmon and kneeled down next to him before picking him up.  She then stood and glanced at the others.  "Night," she yawned.

      Impmon smirked and leaned against Sera, closing his eyes.  "Go to sleep already," he grunted.

      "Right, right," Sera mumbled as she left the cabin, holding Impmon close.

      Meanwhile, Hirokazu stared at his bed almost uncomprehending, before he paused.  "... It's hot," he proclaimed, then proceeded to strip down to his birthday suit and climb in to bed.

      Takato blinked uncomprehendingly at Hirokazu for a few moments before his eyes snapped open wide.  "HIROKAZU!?" he yowled, nearly falling out of his bed.

      "What?" Hirokazu muttered, groggily.

      "H-hey, did he just...?" Kenta peered up.

      "You're naked!" Takato exclaimed, pointing.

      "It's HOT!" Hirokazu retorted.  "Now I'm cool!"

      "DUDE!" Kenta yelped and covered his eyes.  "Get some pants on, man!"

      "Free as a breeze, man.  Free as a breeze!"

      Jenrya blinked slowly and then shoved the pillow over his head.  "It's too early in the morning for this...," he complained this voice muffled through the pillow.

      "Wear underwear at least!" Takato said as he looked away, blushing.

      "If it bothers you, don't look!" Hirokazu snorted as he got comfortable.

      "Shut up or I'll kill you."

      ChibiBa opened an eye and glanced around the room.

      Instantly the boys quieted down, deciding that it'd be best to ignore Hirokazu's nudity and go right to sleep.  ChibiBa sighed with relief and snuggled back under the blanket.

      Just when it seemed that they would all get some well-deserved rest, the obnoxious blaring of an air horn pierced the peaceful morning air.

      "Grf...?" Hirokazu grunted as he peered up.  "What the hell..."

      "Good morning everyone!" came the overly cheerful sound of Bambi's voice, amplified by a bullhorn.

      "... Uuuughh...," Jenrya buried his face in his pillow.

      "Time for everyone to get up and greet the day!  Everyone get dressed and gather 'round outside!" Bambi chirped, her voice tinny from the bullhorn.

      "... Someone shut her up...," Takato moaned and covered his head with his pillow to block out the noises.

      The air horn blared through the air once again, impossible to ignore.

      "Shoot her.  Just shoot her," Kenta moaned as he covered his ears.  "I wanna sleep!"

      "Wakie, wakie, everybody!" Bambi repeated.  "I'll be going from cabin to cabin to wake up the stragglers!"

      Tsuyosa twitched slightly, letting out a tiny whimper.

      Click, clack.

      ChibiBa jumped out of the bed, his claws hitting the floor and clattering lightly.  His expression was unreadable as he pattered slowly across the floor, passing the boys as he made for the door.  They didn't notice the small Mega's passing as they were all trying to tune out the obnoxious noises Bambi was making outside.

      Click, clack, clatter.

      ChibiBa paused by the door and looked up at the knob, before he reached up and opened the door.

      "WAKIE, WAKIE EVERY-huh?" Bambi blinked, halting in her overly cheerful wake up call to stare at ChibiBa.

      ChibiBa looked up at Bambi, his expression still unreadable.  The two locked eyes for a minute or so, neither speaking as they stared.

      At least, until ChibiBa took a deep breath.

      "_GRRRRROOOAAAAAAWWWWRRRRRRRRR!!!!_" ChibiBa roared, sounding much like an enraged demon.

      Takato yowled at the roar, his eyes snapping open wide as he fell out of bed with a thump.  Hirokazu squealed as he fumbled out as well, trying to cling to his bed but only succeeding in pulling the blanket and sheets off the bed with him.  Kenta screamed in terror and quickly dove off his bed and then under it to hide from ChibiBa.  Jenrya jumped nearly a meter into the air as he cried out in shock.

      Bambi's eyes widened as she paled drastically.  With an unearthly shriek of terror, she fled from ChibiBa as fast as she possibly could.  "GOBLIN!!!" she screamed as she ran.

      ChibiBa bared his fangs at Bambi, then let out an exasperated sigh and closed the door.  Quietly, he padded back past the boys and over to Tsuyosa's bed.  ChibiBa ignored the boys as he trotted by, calm and collected.  He didn't even look at them as he walked over to Tsuyosa's bed, who had slept through the entire thing.  The boys all stared at ChibiBa as he calmly climbed back into bed with Tsuyosa and snuggled up next to his Tamer.

      ChibiBa glanced at them, and then smirked.

      "Sleep time now."

      Then, he curled up against Tsuyosa and closed his eyes.

      The boys nodded numbly as they climbed back into their beds, but all of them doubted that they'd be able to get sleep any time soon.

***~***

      Impmon was dreaming.

      He didn't know how he knew that he was dreaming and yet not be awakened by that fact, but he was.

      Impmon glanced around, feeling lethargic, as he tried to survey his dream surroundings.  He recognized the black space filled with glowing green symbols almost instantly.  It was the crossroads between the Digital World and the Real World.  He had been in this place three times before; before he first appeared in the Real World, when Chatsuramon had pulled him back into the Digital World, and when he and the other digimon had been taken from their Tamers and forced back into the Digital World in their In-Training forms.

      Impmon blinked slowly as he swallowed, a sense of unease causing him to shiver.  "Why...?"

      "Where am I?"

      Impmon turned at the sound of a familiar voice behind him.

      Sera stood a few meters away from Impmon, dressed in her pajamas, and looking around, confused at her surroundings.

      Impmon blinked slowly.  "S-Sera?"

      Sera took a few steps as she continued to look around, not noticing Impmon or his voice.  Oddly her pajama sleeve was not torn, as it should have been when she had ripped off strips from it to bandage Impmon before.

      She paused as she reached out to touch a floating question mark, but it disappeared as her hand came close to it.

      "... Oi!  Sera!" Impmon tried again.

      Still Sera didn't seem to hear Impmon.  "Am I dreaming?" she wondered aloud as she looked upwards.

      "No, I'M dreaming," Impmon muttered as he realized that Sera was just part of his dream.

      It was then that a sudden spark of gold appeared amidst the chaos of green numbers, catching Impmon and Sera's attention at the same time.  It was a small pinprick of light, and yet it glowed as brightly as a star.

      Sera gasped as she saw the golden light, her eyes widening.  "... That's...," she breathed as she reached out hesitantly towards the miniature star, drawn to it by some unknown force.

      Impmon stared at the light, confused.

      "What is...?"

      The instant Sera's hand touched the light it flared brilliantly, blinding both Sera and Impmon for a brief moment before dying down to a gentle glow.

      Floating above Sera's upturned palms, glowing with a gentle golden light, was Impmon's D-Arc.

      Impmon rubbed his eyes, wincing, then blinked repeatedly and stared in shock.

      "W-what?  It's my... my...!"

      Small sparks of purple light darted about in every direction from the D-Arc as it was bathed in a golden glow.

      Sera stared in awe at the display of lights surrounding the white and purple device floating scant centimeters above her hands.  "What... what is...?" she breathed, confused.

      "... Is that how...?"

      The glow slowly died down as the D-Arc gently landed into Sera's hands.  She clutched the small device tightly, barely daring to believe it was really hers, and brought it close to her chest.  "... It's so warm..."

      Impmon blushed lightly as he fidgeted.

      Suddenly everything started to fade for Impmon, as if he were waking up.

      "A-ah?" Impmon looked around, panicked.  "What NOW!?"

      As the space between worlds faded away, the Real World seemed to fade in to replace it.  In an instant, Impmon knew exactly where he was.  He was where it all started for him, where he first appeared in the Real World.

      "Oh, scenery change?" Impmon tilted his head.  "... But why here?"

      Suddenly there was the annoying high-pitched beeping of the alarm clock as it went off from its place on the nightstand.

      Impmon jumped and clamped his claws over his ears, wincing.

      An agitated groan came from the person sleeping within the bed, hidden under the covers.  A hand reached out, fumbling for the alarm's off switch.  After a few moments of trying, the hidden person managed to turn it off.

      As they arose from beneath the blanket with a grunt of irritation, the person was revealed to be Sera, looking quite tired.  She yawned and stretched, not noticing the small white and purple device clutched tightly in one of her hands.  "... I hate mornings," she muttered as she brushed the hair that fell in front of her face away with her free hand.

      Impmon slowly lowered his claws, and then blinked.  "... Sera?" he muttered, surprised.  "Again?"

      Sera looked down in the D-Arc in her hand once she finally noticed it, and blinked almost uncomprehendingly at it.  "... What...?" she muttered as she became more awake.  "This is from my dream..."

      "My D-Arc..." Impmon stared.

      Sera turned the small device over in her hands slowly unable to believe it was real.  "... But... how could that be...?" she wondered aloud.  "... It was just a dream...  Wasn't it?"

      She looked up and shook her head.  "Of course it was," she scolded herself, becoming more awake every minute.  "Mom or dad must have given it to me while I was half asleep and it gave me that dream, and I just don't remember them giving it to me now."  She sighed in disappointment as she looked back down at the D-Arc.  "Cool stuff like magical items appearing from dreams can't happen in real life..."

      "... ...," Impmon blinked slowly.

      Carefully Sera placed the D-Arc down onto her nightstand before she stood up and stretched.  She then walked over to her closet in silence and promptly started to undress.

      Impmon squealed and covered his eyes, blushing.

      Impmon waited tensely, his cheeks blushing, for Sera to finish dressing.  Dream or not, he figured that peeping at girls would end in disaster for him.

      There were only the sounds cloth swishing, drawers being opened and closed, and the soft tinkling of metal for the next few minutes.

      "..."  Impmon slowly peeked through his claws, curiously.

      Sera glanced into the full-length mirror next to her closet as she finished clipping on her earrings, fully dressed save for her shoes.

      Impmon sighed with relief, though he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

      Sera brushed her hair back from where it had fallen over her shoulders, and then paused to look at something she spotted in the mirror.

      "..."

      She turned around and walked towards her nightstand to pick up the D-Arc from where she had placed it.  She carried it with her over to her desk and sat down in her chair before examining it.  "A card reader...," she muttered.

      Impmon watched, curiously.

      Sera placed the D-Arc down before she reached over to a small plastic box that was covered with digimon stickers.  She reached into her pocket, pulling out her chain and the key ring attached to the end of it.  She flipped through the keys until she came upon a small, inconspicuous looking one, which she used to unlock the box.

      Impmon blinked again, then tried to peer over her shoulders to see what she was doing.

      When the box was opened, numerous cards covered in plastic were revealed inside of it.

      Impmon tilted his head, blinking slowly.

      Sera flipped through the cards carefully until she paused at a particular one and pulled it out.  "Ah, here it is," she smiled and admired the card.

      The card encased in a worn, yet hard plastic slipcover was an Impmon card.  It was lined with gold and had gold lettering painted on it, with the image on the front being of a beautiful holographic design, proudly displaying Impmon smirking and holding a fireball over his claw.

      Impmon blinked, then cackled.  "Whoo!  I have a card!?"

      "What better card to try out with my new card reader than my most precious one?" Sera asked no one in particular.  Smiling, she cautiously removed the card from where it lay within its casing, taking great care not to damage the card in any way.

      Impmon flushed, happily.  "... Well, who else?  I am the most wonderful digimon ever!"

      Sera, like before, didn't seem to hear Impmon, or realize that he was there.

      Once the card was free of its casing, she ran her fingers lightly against the surface as she gazed at it with reverence.  "... If only...," she whispered.  She sighed, and then shook her head slightly to bring herself back to reality.

      Careful to get the alignment right, Sera placed the card next to the reading slot on the side of the D-Arc, ready to slash it through.  Just as she started to move the card downwards, a knock at the door caused her to halt and miss seeing the D-Arc start to spark.

      Impmon flailed, growling.  "No, keep pulling!  Forget the door!" he snarled, despite the fact that it was no use.

      "Seeeeeraaaaaa," came a familiar voice from the other side of the door.

      Impmon tensed, then stared at the door.  "Mako-chan?"

      "What?" Sera answered, looking a bit miffed at being interrupted.

      "Ai's been bad!" Makoto cried as he opened the door.

      "Can't it wait?  I'm kinda busy here," Sera sighed.

      "... But the couch is on fire."

      Impmon's jaw dropped.

      "WHAT!?" Sera shrieked, instantly on her feet.

      "The couch is on fire," Makoto repeated.

      "... At least I'm not the one on fire this time," Impmon observed.

      "It's not MY fault!" Ai cried from someplace beyond the range of sight provided through the doorway.

      Impmon glanced back at the D-Arc, absently, and then yelped as he saw the little device slide his card through by itself and spit it out on the floor.

      Sera muttered a particularly colorful word as she darted to the door, pausing only to wait for Makoto to move out of the way.  She was too much in a panic to notice the bright purple and gold light that had flared from both the D-Arc and the card behind her.

      Impmon watched Sera leave, quietly, then looked at the D-Arc and card again.

      "... Why do I feel a sudden sense of Deja Vu?"

      Impmon stared, stunned, as the light faded away to reveal himself standing where the card once was.

      The door closed as the other Impmon looked around, confused and disoriented at his surroundings.

      Impmon couldn't look away as he watched himself fumble about, disoriented.

      "I remember this..."

      For some reason Impmon suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to look someplace else.  He forced his eyes away from himself and out the window, where his gaze had been drawn.

      Floating outside the window was a Digignome.

      Impmon jerked, surprised by the sudden sight, then stared in disbelief.

      The Digignome watched Impmon's other self and then shook its head, an oddly sad expression crossing its features.

      "It's... one of those gnome things...," Impmon breathed.

      The Digignome then turned to look at Impmon, somehow knowing he was there.  It's expression lit up with joy and it started to laugh in a bubbly manner.

      As the Digignome laughed, Impmon oddly felt himself become lighter, and the world started to fade into a dream-like haze.

      With a sharp gasp, Impmon sat up and found himself back in the cabin at camp, staring face to face with a real Digignome.

      The Digignome smiled at Impmon brightly as it hovered over him.

      Impmon opened his mouth to demand an explanation, and then yelped as an earth-shattering roar caused the entire cabin to quiver and rattle.

      The Digignome made a frightened sound as it quickly darted through the air and disappeared as it apparently went through the wall.

      Impmon fell out of the bed on to his head with a squeak, and then twitched his leg as pain laced through his head.

      Sera started awake at the roaring, sitting up instantly as she was forced from slumber.  "Wha-what's going on?" she asked as she looked around wildly.

      "... ChibiBa.  I recognize that voice anywhere."

      "Does that mean they're in trouble?" Sera asked and then blinked as she noticed Impmon was no longer beside her in the bed.  She glanced around and then peered over to bed to look down at the fallen digimon.  "Uh, are you okay, Impmon?"

      "I don't think so...  We'd be hearing more screaming...," Impmon muttered as he fumbled up.  "... And I'm fine."

      "That's good," Sera sighed in relief.  She then reached over to pick Impmon up and pull him back into bed with her.

      Impmon rubbed his head, and then flopped back down on the bed.  "Anyway."  He stretched, then closed his eyes and sighed.  "Good night again!"

      "Good night again to you too," Sera smiled as she wrapped her arms around Impmon snuggled up closely to him.

      Impmon opened one eye, blushing, before he closed it again and sighed.

      Sera closed her eyes once she got comfortable, and began to drift back off to sleep.

      As Impmon slowly drifted to sleep, he idly wondered if Sera would of smacked him for peeping on her dream self.


	18. Attack of the Goblins

Authors' Notes: Before we start the regular authors' notes today, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who wished me, Yuki, a happy birthday!  THANK YOU!  I really enjoyed hearing all your birthday wishes, and yes, I did have a happy birthday.  ^_^  Now, onto your regularly scheduled authors' notes:  As always Tsuyosa and Sera, along with this story, belong to us, so no stealing!  For those of you, who didn't read the title bar too well, this is the uncensored version of chapter 15, so if you didn't mean to come see the version that includes yaoi, go run quickly and see the yaoi-free version now!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 15: Attack of the Goblins**

***~***

      "Aww, MAN!  You beat me AGAIN!"

      "Of course!" Hirokazu smirked, smugly, as he picked up his cards and reshuffled them.

      After ChibiBa had scared Bambi that morning, the councilors had confined all of the children into their cabins for fear of them being attacked by the 'goblin' Bambi had reported as running amok.  Once the Tamers had gotten sufficient sleep, they quickly became bored at being confined.

      Tsuyosa sat on his bed, absently watching Hirokazu and Kenta as they sat on one of the beds and played cards.  ChibiBa curled up in Tsuyosa's lap, feeling mighty proud of himself.

      Kenta sighed and whined a bit as he reshuffled his own cards.  "Man... I NEVER win...," he sighed.

      Marine Angemon nuzzled Kenta's cheek from his perch on his Tamer's shoulder.  "Pipipiiii," he crooned comfortingly.

      "Maybe you'll get lucky," Hirokazu replied, with a tone that obviously said he did not think that would happen.

      "Yeah, right," Kenta muttered as he eyed Hirokazu.

      "Maybe you should ease up on Kenta, Hirokazu," Takato commented as he idly kicked his foot from where it dangled off the side of his bed.  Jenrya sat across from him on Takato's bed as they played the card game against each other as well.

      "I AM easing up!" Hirokazu snickered.  "He's just not very good!"  With that, Hirokazu shuffled and again and drew a card.  "Let's play!"

      Jenrya just sighed and shook his head as he drew another card.  He had won virtually all the games he had played against Takato, and he wasn't being as bad a winner as Hirokazu was.

      "Right," Kenta sulked as he drew a card.

      "Heh!" Hirokazu smirked as he looked at Kenta.  "Just to be a good sport, I'll let YOU attack first.  I'll even tell you what attack I'll use!  I'll use my super circle attack!"

      Kenta sighed and looked over his hand, then scowled.  "... Oh great...  I guess...  I could try...,"

      "That card," a finger pointed at a card from over Kenta's shoulder.

      Kenta blinked and looked up to see Tsuyosa standing behind him, holding ChibiBa.  "Eh?" Kenta blinked.

      "Use that card," Tsuyosa replied, more firmly.

      "... But what...,"

      "Use it.  You'll see."

      Kenta blinked, then shrugged.  "I don't have anything else to lose, I guess..."

      Kenta sighed and grabbed the indicated card, placing it down on his own Digimon.  "There, I..."

      "He's dead."

      "Eh?" Kenta blinked.

      "WHAT?!" Hirokazu stared at the card.

      "Tankmon," Tsuyosa said.  "Support attack... reduce own health to ten but add five hundred attack power to all attacks.  You're dead."

      "... W-what the..." Hirokazu stared in shock, unable to think.

      "I... won...?" Kenta blinked slowly.

      Tsuyosa walked back to his bed and sat down, holding ChibiBa who giggled insanely.

      "I WON!" Kenta cried as he jumped up to his feet and started a victory dance atop the bed.

      "PI!" Marine Angemon cheered happily as he floated in circles around his Tamer's head.

      "N-no way...  One shot!?" Hirokazu stared in disbelief and examined the Tankmon card, horrified to see that Tsuyosa was right.

      "I WON!  I WON, I WON, I WON!" Kenta cheered as he did his victory jig.

      "Wow," Takato blinked.  "That was amazing."

      "Good play," Jenrya commented.

      "How'd you DO that!?" Hirokazu demanded.

      Tsuyosa blinked, and then itched his neck nervously.  "I thought everyone knew that card did that."

      "I WON, I WON, I WOOOON!" Kenta laughed as he continued to dance.

      "ONE SHOT, man!" Hirokazu muttered.  "ONE SHOT!"

      "... Um...," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "I WON!  I WON!  _I WON!!!_"

      Hirokazu twitched, eying Kenta irritably.

      Tsuyosa blinked, then silently wondered if he should have just kept his mouth shut.

      "What's all the screaming about?" Ruki peered in through the door connecting the two cabins, irritably.

      "Why so noisy, arf, arf?" Juri's 'puppet' inquired.

      "I WON!" Kenta cried as he leapt off the bed.  "I FINALLY BEAT HIROKAZU AT DIGIMON!"  Kenta then proceeded to strike a victory pose as he grinned like an idiot.

      "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Hirokazu tugged at his hair.

      "Congratulations!" Juri smiled.

      "About time," Ruki grunted.

      "Hey, Tsuyosa, do you play the card game too?" Takato asked.

      "PLEASE tell me that wasn't beginner's luck!" Hirokazu whimpered.

      "Uh... y-yeah, I play a little...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "A little?!  Tsuyosa WON the card tournament this year!" ChibiBa cackled.

      "Damn, I knew I missed something while going to the Digital World..." Ruki grumbled.

      "It was the only tournament in a while that I felt up to going to," Tsuyosa replied, so quietly that almost no one could hear him.

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa as he heard what he said, but quickly looked away before the other boy saw, lest he mistake Takato's concern for pity again.

      "DUDE!  You have GOT to play me!" Hirokazu lunged at Tsuyosa, almost like a starving dog.

      "U-um... okay..."

      Tsuyosa fumbled for his backpack and pulled out a small box, then opened it.  Hirokazu's eyes widened as his jaw dropped.  "DUDE... YOU HAVE AN IMPERIALDRAMON CARD?!" he squealed.

      "Uh..." Tsuyosa paled.

      "DUDE!  DUDE!  _DUDE!!!!_" Hirokazu snatched the box and sorted through it, his eyes wide as a bit of drool dripped down his mouth.  "YOU'VE GOT EVERYTHING!"

      "Not everything..."

      Jenrya sweat-dropped while Takato shook his head at Hirokazu's shameless display.

      "Don't drool on the cards 'Wonder Kazu'," Ruki commented.

      "BUT LOOK AT THE STUFF HE HAS!!!!" Hirokazu squealed.

      "U-um..."

      "DUDE!!!" Hirokazu's jaw dropped as he held up a card to stare.  "IT'S OMNIMON!!!"

      "A-ah..." Tsuyosa fidgeted, blushing and looking highly self-conscious.  "Don't bend it..."

      "Rawf!  Too much sugar, yip!" Juri's 'puppet' commented.

      "Kenta!  LOOK at this!" Hirokazu squeaked.

      Kenta blinked as he halted in his victory jig.  "Huh?" he blinked.

      "LOOK AT THESE CARDS!" Hirokazu cried.  "I'd chop off my leg for half these cards!"

      Kenta blinked again as he went over to peer at the cards.  His eyes widened as he snatched one of the cards.  "WOW!  YOU HAVE A HOLOGRAPHIC MARINE ANGEMON CARD!" he cried excitedly.

      Marine Angemon blinked at the mention of his name and floated over to Kenta.  "Pi?" he blinked.

      "Look, Marine Angemon, it's your card!" Kenta said as he pointed at the card in question.

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon cried happily as he took the card from Kenta and admired it.

      Tsuyosa looked slightly panicked.  "A-ah, don't... don't damage it!" he squeaked.

      "Bend the card and I'll bend you," ChibiBa pointed out.

      Marine Angemon blinked at ChibiBa and Tsuyosa.  "Pipipi?" he asked.

      "Uh...  Maybe you can keep it if I can convince Tsuyosa to trade for it...?" Kenta asked hopefully as he looked at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa flushed, sheepishly.

      Kenta sorted through his cards for some he'd be willing to trade, as Marine Angemon gave Tsuyosa his cutest pleadingly look as he hugged the card.

      "... W-well..." Tsuyosa itched his head.

      Kenta held out a handful of cards to Tsuyosa.  "Here, do you mind trading that card for these?" he asked hopefully.

      ChibiBa snorted and crossed his arms.  Tsuyosa glanced at him, and then fidgeted again.  "... I g-guess I could let you have it," he muttered, shyly.

      "Great!" Kenta cheered happily as he handed the cards over to Tsuyosa.

      "PIPI!" Marine Angemon squealed in delight as he hugged his card.

      "No, I mean... for free."  Tsuyosa handed the cards back, quietly.  "I... couldn't take your cards.  They're yours."

      Kenta blinked repeatedly at Tsuyosa, disbelieving.  "You mean it?" he breathed as he took his cards back.

      Tsuyosa nodded, his face a bright crimson, as he was unused to such attention.

      "Tsu's awesome, isn't he?" ChibiBa clung to Tsuyosa, sticking his tongue at Takato purposely.

      Takato blinked at ChibiBa, wondering what brought that on.  "Yeah he is," he agreed.

      "THANKS, man!" Kenta cried as he suddenly hugged Tsuyosa.  "I owe you one!"

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon agreed as he nuzzled against Tsuyosa's cheek.

      Tsuyosa blushed and laughed, nervously.  "A-ah... um... you're welcome!"

      "DUDE," Hirokazu stared.

      ChibiBa cuddled Tsuyosa's arm, who looked very shy and timid all of a sudden, and smirked at Takato.  Takato blinked at ChibiBa, confused.

      Jenrya frowned slightly as he glanced over at Ruki, who had a similar look on her face as she glanced at Jenrya.  Juri blinked slowly, then eyed ChibiBa suspiciously, but said nothing.  Hirokazu boggled, oblivious.

      "DUDE!"

***~***

      The Tamers weren't the only ones to be bored because of their confinement.  Most of the other children in the other cabins felt it too.

      "I'm booooooored," a young boy whined as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.  "I wanna go ooouuuut."

      "We can't," another boy responded.  "We're stuck in here 'cause of that goblin sighting."

      "But there's no such thing as goblins!" the first boy retorted angrily.

      "Well, the COUNCELLORS said we stay in!" the other boy snorted.  "So we're stuck!"

      "But there's no such thing as GOBLINS!" the first boy repeated, hotly.

      Tap, tap, tap.

      The two boys blinked and turned to look towards the sound, as well as most of the other boys in their cabin.

      It came from the window.

      They all turned to look at the window, curious.

      "What was that?" the first boy asked.

      "The goblin?" the second wondered.

      "There's no such thing as goblins!" the first snorted.

      "Then look!" the second boy challenged.

      "Fine!" the first boy said as he stalked over to the window in bold strides.  He curiously peered out the window once he reached it for the source of the tapping.

      And he came face to face with Impmon, who pressed his face against the window and made bizarre faces.

      The boy squealed loudly in fight as he fell backwards.  "GOBLIN!!!" he shrieked as he pointed franticly at the window.

      "SEE?!  SEE?!" the second boy squealed.

      Impmon dropped down out of sight, cackling evilly as he darted through the bushes.  The sounds of children screaming and squealing in alarm about the 'goblin' they saw faded the further away he went.

      "Hehe, stupid kids!" Impmon chuckled.

      Impmon darted from cabin to cabin, peering in and making faces just to frighten the bored children inside.  Soon, children were hiding under beds and screaming in fear as Impmon cackled at his pranks.

      Suddenly the scent of food tickled Impmon's nose, causing his stomach to growl loudly.  He sniffed the air, and then grinned wickedly.  Quickly he darted towards the source of the delicious smell, intent upon relieving it from whoever possessed it.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see who possessed it.

      Akkenai followed Sera, looking like a lovesick puppy, and whining pathetically.  Both were carrying large boxes used to deliver a large amount of hot food, obviously meant for the campers that were confined in their cabins.  "Seraaaaa!" he whined.

      Sera refused to look at Akkenai, a scowl on her face as she tried to ignore him.  "Leave me alone, pervert," she snapped coldly.

      "But Seeeraaaa!" Akkenai whined.

      "I'll hit you," Sera warned.

      "But-"

      "And it'll hurt."

      "Seeeeraaaa!"

      "A lot."

      Impmon twitched; something about Akkenai bothered him a lot.

      Sera increased her pace, wanting to get away from Akkenai as fast as possible so she could deliver the food and get back to her cabin.  "But you won't even tell me why you're mad at me!" Akkenai pouted as he ran after her.

      "You're a perverted bastard, and a stalker," Sera said bluntly.   "Do I need more of a reason than that?"

      "YES!" Akkenai cried, frustrated.

      Sera's eye twitched.

      Impmon decided that even if Sera needed more of a reason, he didn't.  With a snarl, he suddenly darted forward and let out a terrifying snarl right behind the two.

      Sera shrieked, startled, as she whirled around, nearly dropping her delivery boxes.  Akkenai jumped a good meter into the air as he screamed shrilly, flinging his delivery boxes in every which direction.  Without even attempting to see what made the sound, he bolted quickly, running as if a demon were after him.  "GOBLIN!!!" he screamed.

      Impmon cackled happily as he dove to grab the boxes, pleased.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief as she calmed down.  "Oh, it's just you, Impmon," she smiled.

      "No, I'm a goblin," Impmon smirked.

      "GOBLIN!" came Akkenai's fading screams as he ran out of sight.

      "See?"

      Sera blinked and then glanced at the fleeing Akkenai before she looked back at Impmon.  "I guess you are," she giggled.  "Thanks for getting rid of that stalker for me."

      Impmon waved a paw, smirking.  "Bah, it was funny.  He screams like a girl."

      Sera giggled again, nodding as she kneeled down next to Impmon, smiling brightly at him.  "Well thanks anyway, Impmon," she said as she leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek.

      Impmon blinked slowly, then stared as a light blush spread across his cheeks like wildfire.  "W-w-wha... hey...," he squeaked.  "N-no mushy stuff!"

      Sera merely smiled brightly at Impmon, giggling merrily.

***~***

      "Boy, this camp serves some really weird food," Kenta commented as he eyed the bowl of hot chili in his hands.

      "Tastes good though!" Hirokazu replied as he devoured his food, eagerly.

      "I'm just glad they brought milk with it instead of water," Jenrya commented as he took a sip of his bottle of milk.  "It'd be too spicy otherwise."  Takato nodded as he munched on his chili, trying to ignore the burning sensation it brought.  Tsuyosa ate his chili slowly, unused to such American foods but not one to complain.

      Besides, it was funny seeing ChibiBa eat the entire contents of the bowl in one gulp, then run around screaming.

      "IT BURNS!  IT BURNS!" he roared.

      "Quit whining and drink some milk," Ruki grunted as she ate her chili.

      ChibiBa grabbed his bottle and gulped down the milk, then sighed with relief as smoke literally billowed up from his mouth.

      "... You okay, ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "..."  ChibiBa looked at Tsuyosa, then belched up some flame.  Tsuyosa stared at him, sweat-dropping.  "Yep," ChibiBa grinned.

      "Looks like the chili would make a devastating attack on unsuspecting digimon," Juri giggled.

      ChibiBa beamed in response.

      Tsuyosa chuckled lightly, then took a bite of his chili after blowing on it extensively.

      Suddenly the door to the cabin was flung open.

      Tsuyosa looked up sharply as ChibiBa lunged under the bed, to avoid detection.  Takato whirled and Jenrya blinked as they looked towards the door.  Kenta quickly hid Marine Angemon under a blanket, who squeaked at the sudden action.  Juri blinked as well, her spoon in her mouth, as Ruki didn't even bother to see who it was as she continued eating.  Hirokazu glanced up as he tried to steal Kenta's bowl of chili when it was left unguarded.

      Akkenai stood in the doorway with a bright smile on his face.  "Hi everybody!" he said cheerfully as he strolled into the cabin.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened and he immediately dropped to the floor, crawling under the bed to join ChibiBa.  Takato glared daggers into Akkenai as he remembered what the teenaged boy had said to Tsuyosa the previous day.  The other Tamers were less than pleased about Akkenai being there as well.

      Akkenai ignored their looks as he calmly strolled over to Tsuyosa's bed and looked down.  "HIII TSUYOSA!" he called loudly before dropping down to the floor to peer under the bed.

      Tsuyosa squeaked and crawled further under the bed as ChibiBa ducked inside Tsuyosa's backpack.

      "What ya doin' under there?" Akkenai asked innocently.

      "Leave Tsuyosa alone," Takato growled.  Akkenai ignored Takato, his attention completely on Tsuyosa.

      "... Looking for something," Tsuyosa inched away from Akkenai, trying to appear very casual.

      "Oh, well let me help you look for it!" Akkenai beamed as he stood up and calmly pushed the bed with no apparent trouble, sliding it away from Tsuyosa and leaving him exposed.

      "..."  Tsuyosa stared up at Akkenai, like a deer in headlights.  "N-no thanks...  I think I just remembered I left it at home."

      "Oh, okay then!"  Akkenai smiled as he grabbed Tsuyosa's arm and yanked him up onto his feet.  "Then you can do me a favor!"

      "... A favor?" Tsuyosa blinked.  ChibiBa growled deeply as he hid in the backpack.

      "... Maybe he should be the one under the bed," Ruki muttered, to herself.  "A monster under the bed."

      "Why should he do you a favor after what you did yesterday?" Takato snapped.

      "That guy has a lot of nerve," Jenrya muttered.

      "And he's supposed to be a chaperone?" Juri grunted as she ate her chili.

      Akkenai ignored all of them.  "PUHLEEEEZE tell Sera we've made up!" he pleaded with Tsuyosa, giving him a sad look.  "She's mad at me and I think she thinks I did something to you so you've gotta set her straight!"

      "We... made up?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.

      "Sera's mad at me, and as near as I can tell, you running off yesterday is what caused it!" Akkenai explained franticly.  "So tell her we're friends again so she can forgive me and I can get my shot at having nookie with her back!"

      "... We're... friends?" Tsuyosa eyed Akkenai, dubiously.

      "Yes!" Akkenai nodded vigorously.

      "Some 'friend'," Takato muttered.

      "Funny...  I wonder when this happened," Ruki snorted.  "Especially since even Tsuyosa didn't know it."  Jenrya nodded, frowning.

      "..." Tsuyosa tried to back way from Akkenai.  "... Um..."

      "So will you tell her?" Akkenai gave Tsuyosa a sad and pathetic look.  "PLEEEEAAZE, old buddy, old pal?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa tried to bolt for the door, away from Akkenai.

      Akkenai quickly cut Tsuyosa off, grabbing his arm tightly.  "Where ya goin', buddy?" he asked, genuinely confused.  "Are ya going to tell Sera?"

      "I..."  Tsuyosa obviously wanted no part of whatever Akkenai was planning, but was too frightened of the boy to say so.  One could see why, given how frail Tsuyosa was and how utterly boorish Akkenai was.  There was simply no comparison.

      "Leave Tsuyosa alone," Takato said angrily to Akkenai as he set down his chili and milk.

      "You're such a bully," Juri scowled at Akkenai.

      Akkenai ignored the Tamers as if they weren't even in the room with him and Tsuyosa.  "Come oooon, how about we go tell Sera right now?" he suggested as he glomped onto Tsuyosa.  "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

      Tsuyosa squeaked and squirmed, trying to get away in an almost panicked fashion.

      Akkenai blinked and then snuggled closer to Tsuyosa.  "You know, you feel pretty good, Tsuyosa," Akkenai crooned as he ran his hands along Tsuyosa's body.

      Tsuyosa let out a startled squeal and writhed to get free, near hysterical.

      ChibiBa's growling grew louder.

      "HEY!  STOP THAT!" Takato yelled as he strode quickly over to Akkenai.  "LET HIM GO!"

      "Oooh...  Fluffy!" Akkenai crooned and then blinked at Takato.  "Hmm?  When did you get here?"

      "He doesn't like it!  Let him go!" Juri agreed as she strode up after Takato, glowering.

      "Let him go right now, or you'll regret it," Ruki growled threateningly.

      Akkenai blinked at the Tamers as if seeing them for the first time, as he remained glomped onto Tsuyosa tightly.  "Huh?  How long have you all been there?" Akkenai blinked.

      ChibiBa growled in a feral manner as he peered out of the backpack, glaring.

      "We've been here this whole time," Jenrya said, anger evident in his voice.  "Leave Tsuyosa alone!  He doesn't want you touching him like that!"

      "Dude, that's just shameless!" Hirokazu growled.

      "Yeah," Kenta scowled.

      "What is?" Akkenai blinked, acting as if he had no idea what they meant.  "I just want Tsuyosa to do me a favor!"

      "So you molest him!?" Juri snarled.

      "I'm just being friendly," Akkenai crooned 'innocently' as he snuggled against Tsuyosa.

      "STOP IT!" Takato demanded loudly.  "Let Tsuyosa go right now!"

      Tsuyosa yelped and tried to get free, twisting about to try and slip out of Akkenai's arms.

      "But he's so fluffy!" Akkenai whined.  "Besides, he's gotta tell Sera we're friends again so she'll stop hitting me!"

      A loud crunch issued from behind Tsuyosa's bed as ChibiBa tried to control himself by chewing on the bed's leg.

      Akkenai didn't seem to notice.  "Come on, Tsuuuuuyoooosaaaa," he crooned.  "Tell Sera we're buddies!  If you do I'll have some nookie with you too!"  He then grinned brightly.  "Maybe we can do it in a three-some!"

      "W-WHAT!?" Tsuyosa shrieked, flushed.  "YOU'RE INSANE!"

      A loud snap issued as the bed toppled over, one leg severed completely off.

      ChibiBa could stand no more.

      With a roar, ChibiBa lunged and latched on to Akkenai's leg.

      Akkenai instantly let go of Tsuyosa as ChibiBa sunk his fangs into the teenager's leg.  "GOBLIN!!!" Akkenai shrieked shrilly as he hopped around, shaking his leg violently.  "GETITOFFGETITOFF!!!"

      Tsuyosa scrambled back with a squeak as ChibiBa chewed violently.

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked, concerned, as he hurried over to Tsuyosa.

      Akkenai tried in vain to get ChibiBa off of his leg, but the angry Mega was not to be deterred.

      "I..." Tsuyosa was beet red in the face, totally humiliated.  With a strangled cry, he charged out the door and tried to get away from the fact that once again he had been embarrassed in front of everyone.

      ChibiBa chewed twice as hard.

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried before he quickly chased after the fleeing boy.

      "GETITOFF!" Akkenai screamed shrilly, his voice filled with fear and pain.

      Tsuyosa twisted about and bolted behind the cabin before he slumped against the wall and shivered uncontrollably.

      ChibiBa growled viciously as he chewed, then yelped as he was kicked off in mid-chomp.  However, not to be deterred, he immediately made to lunge once more.

      Akkenai squealed and fled from ChibiBa as if his life depended on it; which it probably did.

      ChibiBa chased after Akkenai, dead set on making Akkenai just that: dead.

      Takato chased after Tsuyosa, coming to a halt a few feet away from the humiliated boy.  "Tsuyosa?" Takato said gently as he approached Tsuyosa.

      "... What?" came the muffled whisper as the boy propped his arms on his knees and leaned forward buried his face in them.

      Takato kneeled down next to Tsuyosa.  "... Are you okay?" Takato asked.

      "... Yes."  An obvious lie.

      Takato sighed, knowing Tsuyosa wasn't going to make it easy.  Takato sat down completely next to Tsuyosa, nearly touching the other boy.

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly and raised his head to look at Takato, his cheeks still red and his eyes a little blurry.

      Takato looked back at Tsuyosa, trying to figure out how to console the molested boy.  "..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa rested his head against his arms and shivered, slightly.  "... Everyone's going to laugh again, aren't they?"

      "..."  Takato was taken back by that.  "No, they won't laugh at you, Tsuyosa," he said soothingly.

      "... Why not?  It was funny," Tsuyosa muttered, bitterly.  "Everyone laughs..."

      "No, it wasn't funny," Takato said firmly.  "No one's going to laugh at you."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered again.  "Someone pushed me down some stairs once.  They thought it was funny.  Everyone laughed."

      Takato's eyes widened.  "That's terrible!"

      "... They stopped laughing, though," Tsuyosa continued.  "... When ChibiBa burned down their tree house with a flamethrower.  He used to do things like that... before I asked him to stop.  He hasn't done anything like that since."

      Takato blinked slowly, stunned, but decided not to make any comment.

      "..."  Tsuyosa rested his chin against his arms, blinking slowly.  "... Then someone kicked a chair out from under me so I fell on my back... then stepped on me.  Everyone laughed then, too...  At least, until during the track meet that day... where ChibiBa grabbed one of the hurdles and yanked it upwards, hitting the guy hard as he was jumping over it."

      Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "That was before I asked ChibiBa to stop, though."

      "Uh... right," Takato muttered, sweat-dropping.

      "... But... the last time..." Tsuyosa closed his eyes and shivered, quietly.  "... The last time... this one kid attacked me."

      Takato tensed slightly.  Silently he reached out and put a hand on Tsuyosa's knee, trying to offer comfort.

      Tsuyosa paused, then opened his eyes and seemed to stare at nothing.  "... I'm not sure why...  I didn't even know him... but he jumped me one day between classes."

      "That's horrible...," Takato whispered, aghast.

      "... I couldn't fight back..." Tsuyosa muttered.  "... I managed to get to the nurses' office and they sent me home...  I had a black eye and one of my ribs was broken."

      "..."  Takato moved his hand to Tsuyosa's shoulder.

      "..." Tsuyosa glanced at the hand, and then closed his eyes.  "I passed out after that so I don't know what happened... but when I woke up, I found out that what happened to me was nothing compared to what ChibiBa did to that boy."

      Takato tensed, having a bad feeling about what Tsuyosa was going to say next.

      "ChibiBa... had snuck out of the house when I was unconscious," Tsuyosa opened his eyes and looked at Takato.  "... Later that day, they found the boy under a pile of lockers.  Someone had literally ripped them off the wall and threw them at him.  They had to take him to the hospital."

      Takato gasped, his eyes widening drastically.  "... He... he didn't..."

      "... I knew ChibiBa had done it... because there isn't any other way to explain it."

      Tsuyosa leaned back against the wall.

      "..."  Takato had no idea what he could say.

      "The boy was in the hospital for a while and when he got back out, he never went near me again.  Not many people did, either."  Tsuyosa shook his head.  "... But that's when I told ChibiBa not to do it anymore.  I didn't want him hurting people..."

      "... Tsuyosa..."

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly.  "... He promised me he wouldn't... and he stopped.  But everyone was already so terrified of me that only the really stupid people bother with me now.  Like Akkenai."

      "... They still laugh, though.  Just when they think I can't hear." Tsuyosa looked at Takato, quietly.

      "Tsuyosa..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa sympathetically.  "No one's going to laugh at you.  Trust me.  We're not like those jerks."

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then sighed.  "... It's probably my fault anyway."

      "It's not your fault!"  Takato placed his hands firmly on Tsuyosa's shoulders.  "Akkenai's just a perverted creep!  It's not your fault he came after you!"

      Tsuyosa tensed at the contact before he forced himself to relax and looked at Takato, quietly.  "... But..."

      "But nothing.  You didn't do anything wrong," Takato insisted firmly.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, quietly.

      "... Even after everything I said to you...," Tsuyosa choked slightly, then looked at the ground.  "... You'd still say that?"

      "... Well... yeah."  Takato looked down for a moment before looking back up at Tsuyosa.  "... Like I said before...  I understand you now, Tsuyosa..."

      "... I...," Tsuyosa faltered, then swallowed quietly.  "... I'm sorry, Takato...  I shouldn't have said what I did..."

      "Hey, it's okay, Tsuyosa."  Takato smiled warmly at Tsuyosa.  "I forgive you."

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, his cheeks flushed.  "... I... never did thank you for saving me, did I?"

      "Hey, you don't have to thank me."  Takato scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed.  "ChibiBa did do most of the work after all..."

      "... I want to thank you for everything....," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "Um...  Well...  You're welcome," Takato muttered, blushing slightly.

      "... So..."  Tsuyosa seemed to make his mind up about something.  "... I... I think I will."

      "Huh?" Takato blinked.  "What do you mean?"

      Without responding, Tsuyosa suddenly leaned forward to kiss Takato chastely.

      Takato's eyes widened in surprise before he slowly relaxed and closed them, giving in to the kiss.

      After a moment, Tsuyosa leaped back to gasp for air.  He blushed violently, shocked he had done something so bold, and fidgeted.  "U-um... sorry... I..."

      Tsuyosa wasn't able to continue as Takato leaned forward to kiss him again.  Tsuyosa squeaked in surprise, then closed his eyes and eased his tense posture as he leaned in to the kiss.  Takato reached out to wrap his arms around Tsuyosa, holding the other boy in a gentle hug as they continued to kiss.  Tsuyosa timidly reached up to wrap his arms around Takato's neck, submitting to the kiss as his body tingled.

      In the bushes near the two, ChibiBa crouched quietly and glowered.  His entire body seethed with rage as he snarled silently at Takato.

      After chasing Akkenai halfway across the camp, he decided to come back and make sure Tsuyosa was all right.  ChibiBa had arrived just in time to see his Tamer kiss Takato.  The goggle boy had stolen Tsuyosa's lips not once but twice.

      ChibiBa crouched even more, eyes narrowed.  He couldn't do anything then; he had promised Tsuyosa that he wouldn't hurt anyone else again.

      At least, he had promised he wouldn't let Tsuyosa find out about him hurting anyone else again.

      ChibiBa snarled in a feral manner.

      He just had to wait until Takato was alone.


	19. Attack of the Goblins (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: Before we start the regular authors' notes today, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who wished me, Yuki, a happy birthday!  THANK YOU!  I really enjoyed hearing all your birthday wishes, and yes, I did have a happy birthday.  ^_^  Now, onto your regularly scheduled authors' notes:  As always Tsuyosa and Sera, along with this story, belong to us, so no stealing!  For those of you, who didn't read the title bar too well, this is the yaoi-free version of chapter 15, so if you didn't mean to come see the censored version, go hurry and see the uncut version now!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 15: Attack of the Goblins**

***~***

      "Aww, MAN!  You beat me AGAIN!"

      "Of course!" Hirokazu smirked, smugly, as he picked up his cards and reshuffled them.

      After ChibiBa had scared Bambi that morning, the councilors had confined all of the children into their cabins for fear of them being attacked by the 'goblin' Bambi had reported as running amok.  Once the Tamers had gotten sufficient sleep, they quickly became bored at being confined.

      Tsuyosa sat on his bed, absently watching Hirokazu and Kenta as they sat on one of the beds and played cards.  ChibiBa curled up in Tsuyosa's lap, feeling mighty proud of himself.

      Kenta sighed and whined a bit as he reshuffled his own cards.  "Man... I NEVER win...," he sighed.

      Marine Angemon nuzzled Kenta's cheek from his perch on his Tamer's shoulder.  "Pipipiiii," he crooned comfortingly.

      "Maybe you'll get lucky," Hirokazu replied, with a tone that obviously said he did not think that would happen.

      "Yeah, right," Kenta muttered as he eyed Hirokazu.

      "Maybe you should ease up on Kenta, Hirokazu," Takato commented as he idly kicked his foot from where it dangled off the side of his bed.  Jenrya sat across from him on Takato's bed as they played the card game against each other as well.

      "I AM easing up!" Hirokazu snickered.  "He's just not very good!"  With that, Hirokazu shuffled and again and drew a card.  "Let's play!"

      Jenrya just sighed and shook his head as he drew another card.  He had won virtually all the games he had played against Takato, and he wasn't being as bad a winner as Hirokazu was.

      "Right," Kenta sulked as he drew a card.

      "Heh!" Hirokazu smirked as he looked at Kenta.  "Just to be a good sport, I'll let YOU attack first.  I'll even tell you what attack I'll use!  I'll use my super circle attack!"

      Kenta sighed and looked over his hand, then scowled.  "... Oh great...  I guess...  I could try...,"

      "That card," a finger pointed at a card from over Kenta's shoulder.

      Kenta blinked and looked up to see Tsuyosa standing behind him, holding ChibiBa.  "Eh?" Kenta blinked.

      "Use that card," Tsuyosa replied, more firmly.

      "... But what...,"

      "Use it.  You'll see."

      Kenta blinked, then shrugged.  "I don't have anything else to lose, I guess..."

      Kenta sighed and grabbed the indicated card, placing it down on his own Digimon.  "There, I..."

      "He's dead."

      "Eh?" Kenta blinked.

      "WHAT?!" Hirokazu stared at the card.

      "Tankmon," Tsuyosa said.  "Support attack... reduce own health to ten but add five hundred attack power to all attacks.  You're dead."

      "... W-what the..." Hirokazu stared in shock, unable to think.

      "I... won...?" Kenta blinked slowly.

      Tsuyosa walked back to his bed and sat down, holding ChibiBa who giggled insanely.

      "I WON!" Kenta cried as he jumped up to his feet and started a victory dance atop the bed.

      "PI!" Marine Angemon cheered happily as he floated in circles around his Tamer's head.

      "N-no way...  One shot!?" Hirokazu stared in disbelief and examined the Tankmon card, horrified to see that Tsuyosa was right.

      "I WON!  I WON, I WON, I WON!" Kenta cheered as he did his victory jig.

      "Wow," Takato blinked.  "That was amazing."

      "Good play," Jenrya commented.

      "How'd you DO that!?" Hirokazu demanded.

      Tsuyosa blinked, and then itched his neck nervously.  "I thought everyone knew that card did that."

      "I WON, I WON, I WOOOON!" Kenta laughed as he continued to dance.

      "ONE SHOT, man!" Hirokazu muttered.  "ONE SHOT!"

      "... Um...," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "I WON!  I WON!  _I WON!!!_"

      Hirokazu twitched, eying Kenta irritably.

      Tsuyosa blinked, then silently wondered if he should have just kept his mouth shut.

      "What's all the screaming about?" Ruki peered in through the door connecting the two cabins, irritably.

      "Why so noisy, arf, arf?" Juri's 'puppet' inquired.

      "I WON!" Kenta cried as he leapt off the bed.  "I FINALLY BEAT HIROKAZU AT DIGIMON!"  Kenta then proceeded to strike a victory pose as he grinned like an idiot.

      "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Hirokazu tugged at his hair.

      "Congratulations!" Juri smiled.

      "About time," Ruki grunted.

      "Hey, Tsuyosa, do you play the card game too?" Takato asked.

      "PLEASE tell me that wasn't beginner's luck!" Hirokazu whimpered.

      "Uh... y-yeah, I play a little...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "A little?!  Tsuyosa WON the card tournament this year!" ChibiBa cackled.

      "Damn, I knew I missed something while going to the Digital World..." Ruki grumbled.

      "It was the only tournament in a while that I felt up to going to," Tsuyosa replied, so quietly that almost no one could hear him.

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa as he heard what he said, but quickly looked away before the other boy saw, lest he mistake Takato's concern for pity again.

      "DUDE!  You have GOT to play me!" Hirokazu lunged at Tsuyosa, almost like a starving dog.

      "U-um... okay..."

      Tsuyosa fumbled for his backpack and pulled out a small box, then opened it.  Hirokazu's eyes widened as his jaw dropped.  "DUDE... YOU HAVE AN IMPERIALDRAMON CARD?!" he squealed.

      "Uh..." Tsuyosa paled.

      "DUDE!  DUDE!  _DUDE!!!!_" Hirokazu snatched the box and sorted through it, his eyes wide as a bit of drool dripped down his mouth.  "YOU'VE GOT EVERYTHING!"

      "Not everything..."

      Jenrya sweat-dropped while Takato shook his head at Hirokazu's shameless display.

      "Don't drool on the cards 'Wonder Kazu'," Ruki commented.

      "BUT LOOK AT THE STUFF HE HAS!!!!" Hirokazu squealed.

      "U-um..."

      "DUDE!!!" Hirokazu's jaw dropped as he held up a card to stare.  "IT'S OMNIMON!!!"

      "A-ah..." Tsuyosa fidgeted, blushing and looking highly self-conscious.  "Don't bend it..."

      "Rawf!  Too much sugar, yip!" Juri's 'puppet' commented.

      "Kenta!  LOOK at this!" Hirokazu squeaked.

      Kenta blinked as he halted in his victory jig.  "Huh?" he blinked.

      "LOOK AT THESE CARDS!" Hirokazu cried.  "I'd chop off my leg for half these cards!"

      Kenta blinked again as he went over to peer at the cards.  His eyes widened as he snatched one of the cards.  "WOW!  YOU HAVE A HOLOGRAPHIC MARINE ANGEMON CARD!" he cried excitedly.

      Marine Angemon blinked at the mention of his name and floated over to Kenta.  "Pi?" he blinked.

      "Look, Marine Angemon, it's your card!" Kenta said as he pointed at the card in question.

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon cried happily as he took the card from Kenta and admired it.

      Tsuyosa looked slightly panicked.  "A-ah, don't... don't damage it!" he squeaked.

      "Bend the card and I'll bend you," ChibiBa pointed out.

      Marine Angemon blinked at ChibiBa and Tsuyosa.  "Pipipi?" he asked.

      "Uh...  Maybe you can keep it if I can convince Tsuyosa to trade for it...?" Kenta asked hopefully as he looked at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa flushed, sheepishly.

      Kenta sorted through his cards for some he'd be willing to trade, as Marine Angemon gave Tsuyosa his cutest pleadingly look as he hugged the card.

      "... W-well..." Tsuyosa itched his head.

      Kenta held out a handful of cards to Tsuyosa.  "Here, do you mind trading that card for these?" he asked hopefully.

      ChibiBa snorted and crossed his arms.  Tsuyosa glanced at him, and then fidgeted again.  "... I g-guess I could let you have it," he muttered, shyly.

      "Great!" Kenta cheered happily as he handed the cards over to Tsuyosa.

      "PIPI!" Marine Angemon squealed in delight as he hugged his card.

      "No, I mean... for free."  Tsuyosa handed the cards back, quietly.  "I... couldn't take your cards.  They're yours."

      Kenta blinked repeatedly at Tsuyosa, disbelieving.  "You mean it?" he breathed as he took his cards back.

      Tsuyosa nodded, his face a bright crimson, as he was unused to such attention.

      "Tsu's awesome, isn't he?" ChibiBa clung to Tsuyosa, sticking his tongue at Takato purposely.

      Takato blinked at ChibiBa, wondering what brought that on.  "Yeah he is," he agreed.

      "THANKS, man!" Kenta cried as he suddenly hugged Tsuyosa.  "I owe you one!"

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon agreed as he nuzzled against Tsuyosa's cheek.

      Tsuyosa blushed and laughed, nervously.  "A-ah... um... you're welcome!"

      "DUDE," Hirokazu stared.

      ChibiBa cuddled Tsuyosa's arm, who looked very shy and timid all of a sudden, and smirked at Takato.  Takato blinked at ChibiBa, confused.

      Jenrya frowned slightly as he glanced over at Ruki, who had a similar look on her face as she glanced at Jenrya.  Juri blinked slowly, then eyed ChibiBa suspiciously, but said nothing.  Hirokazu boggled, oblivious.

      "DUDE!"

***~***

      The Tamers weren't the only ones to be bored because of their confinement.  Most of the other children in the other cabins felt it too.

      "I'm booooooored," a young boy whined as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.  "I wanna go ooouuuut."

      "We can't," another boy responded.  "We're stuck in here 'cause of that goblin sighting."

      "But there's no such thing as goblins!" the first boy retorted angrily.

      "Well, the COUNCELLORS said we stay in!" the other boy snorted.  "So we're stuck!"

      "But there's no such thing as GOBLINS!" the first boy repeated, hotly.

      Tap, tap, tap.

      The two boys blinked and turned to look towards the sound, as well as most of the other boys in their cabin.

      It came from the window.

      They all turned to look at the window, curious.

      "What was that?" the first boy asked.

      "The goblin?" the second wondered.

      "There's no such thing as goblins!" the first snorted.

      "Then look!" the second boy challenged.

      "Fine!" the first boy said as he stalked over to the window in bold strides.  He curiously peered out the window once he reached it for the source of the tapping.

      And he came face to face with Impmon, who pressed his face against the window and made bizarre faces.

      The boy squealed loudly in fight as he fell backwards.  "GOBLIN!!!" he shrieked as he pointed franticly at the window.

      "SEE?!  SEE?!" the second boy squealed.

      Impmon dropped down out of sight, cackling evilly as he darted through the bushes.  The sounds of children screaming and squealing in alarm about the 'goblin' they saw faded the further away he went.

      "Hehe, stupid kids!" Impmon chuckled.

      Impmon darted from cabin to cabin, peering in and making faces just to frighten the bored children inside.  Soon, children were hiding under beds and screaming in fear as Impmon cackled at his pranks.

      Suddenly the scent of food tickled Impmon's nose, causing his stomach to growl loudly.  He sniffed the air, and then grinned wickedly.  Quickly he darted towards the source of the delicious smell, intent upon relieving it from whoever possessed it.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see who possessed it.

      Akkenai followed Sera, looking like a lovesick puppy, and whining pathetically.  Both were carrying large boxes used to deliver a large amount of hot food, obviously meant for the campers that were confined in their cabins.  "Seraaaaa!" he whined.

      Sera refused to look at Akkenai, a scowl on her face as she tried to ignore him.  "Leave me alone, pervert," she snapped coldly.

      "But Seeeraaaa!" Akkenai whined.

      "I'll hit you," Sera warned.

      "But-"

      "And it'll hurt."

      "Seeeeraaaa!"

      "A lot."

      Impmon twitched; something about Akkenai bothered him a lot.

      Sera increased her pace, wanting to get away from Akkenai as fast as possible so she could deliver the food and get back to her cabin.  "But you won't even tell me why you're mad at me!" Akkenai pouted as he ran after her.

      "You're a perverted bastard, and a stalker," Sera said bluntly.   "Do I need more of a reason than that?"

      "YES!" Akkenai cried, frustrated.

      Sera's eye twitched.

      Impmon decided that even if Sera needed more of a reason, he didn't.  With a snarl, he suddenly darted forward and let out a terrifying snarl right behind the two.

      Sera shrieked, startled, as she whirled around, nearly dropping her delivery boxes.  Akkenai jumped a good meter into the air as he screamed shrilly, flinging his delivery boxes in every which direction.  Without even attempting to see what made the sound, he bolted quickly, running as if a demon were after him.  "GOBLIN!!!" he screamed.

      Impmon cackled happily as he dove to grab the boxes, pleased.

      Sera let out a sigh of relief as she calmed down.  "Oh, it's just you, Impmon," she smiled.

      "No, I'm a goblin," Impmon smirked.

      "GOBLIN!" came Akkenai's fading screams as he ran out of sight.

      "See?"

      Sera blinked and then glanced at the fleeing Akkenai before she looked back at Impmon.  "I guess you are," she giggled.  "Thanks for getting rid of that stalker for me."

      Impmon waved a paw, smirking.  "Bah, it was funny.  He screams like a girl."

      Sera giggled again, nodding as she kneeled down next to Impmon, smiling brightly at him.  "Well thanks anyway, Impmon," she said as she leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek.

      Impmon blinked slowly, then stared as a light blush spread across his cheeks like wildfire.  "W-w-wha... hey...," he squeaked.  "N-no mushy stuff!"

      Sera merely smiled brightly at Impmon, giggling merrily.

***~***

      "Boy, this camp serves some really weird food," Kenta commented as he eyed the bowl of hot chili in his hands.

      "Tastes good though!" Hirokazu replied as he devoured his food, eagerly.

      "I'm just glad they brought milk with it instead of water," Jenrya commented as he took a sip of his bottle of milk.  "It'd be too spicy otherwise."  Takato nodded as he munched on his chili, trying to ignore the burning sensation it brought.  Tsuyosa ate his chili slowly, unused to such American foods but not one to complain.

      Besides, it was funny seeing ChibiBa eat the entire contents of the bowl in one gulp, then run around screaming.

      "IT BURNS!  IT BURNS!" he roared.

      "Quit whining and drink some milk," Ruki grunted as she ate her chili.

      ChibiBa grabbed his bottle and gulped down the milk, then sighed with relief as smoke literally billowed up from his mouth.

      "... You okay, ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "..."  ChibiBa looked at Tsuyosa, then belched up some flame.  Tsuyosa stared at him, sweat-dropping.  "Yep," ChibiBa grinned.

      "Looks like the chili would make a devastating attack on unsuspecting digimon," Juri giggled.

      ChibiBa beamed in response.

      Tsuyosa chuckled lightly, then took a bite of his chili after blowing on it extensively.

      Suddenly the door to the cabin was flung open.

      Tsuyosa looked up sharply as ChibiBa lunged under the bed, to avoid detection.  Takato whirled and Jenrya blinked as they looked towards the door.  Kenta quickly hid Marine Angemon under a blanket, who squeaked at the sudden action.  Juri blinked as well, her spoon in her mouth, as Ruki didn't even bother to see who it was as she continued eating.  Hirokazu glanced up as he tried to steal Kenta's bowl of chili when it was left unguarded.

      Akkenai stood in the doorway with a bright smile on his face.  "Hi everybody!" he said cheerfully as he strolled into the cabin.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened and he immediately dropped to the floor, crawling under the bed to join ChibiBa.  Takato glared daggers into Akkenai as he remembered what the teenaged boy had said to Tsuyosa the previous day.  The other Tamers were less than pleased about Akkenai being there as well.

      Akkenai ignored their looks as he calmly strolled over to Tsuyosa's bed and looked down.  "HIII TSUYOSA!" he called loudly before dropping down to the floor to peer under the bed.

      Tsuyosa squeaked and crawled further under the bed as ChibiBa ducked inside Tsuyosa's backpack.

      "What ya doin' under there?" Akkenai asked innocently.

      "Leave Tsuyosa alone," Takato growled.  Akkenai ignored Takato, his attention completely on Tsuyosa.

      "... Looking for something," Tsuyosa inched away from Akkenai, trying to appear very casual.

      "Oh, well let me help you look for it!" Akkenai beamed as he stood up and calmly pushed the bed with no apparent trouble, sliding it away from Tsuyosa and leaving him exposed.

      "..."  Tsuyosa stared up at Akkenai, like a deer in headlights.  "N-no thanks...  I think I just remembered I left it at home."

      "Oh, okay then!"  Akkenai smiled as he grabbed Tsuyosa's arm and yanked him up onto his feet.  "Then you can do me a favor!"

      "... A favor?" Tsuyosa blinked.  ChibiBa growled deeply as he hid in the backpack.

      "... Maybe he should be the one under the bed," Ruki muttered, to herself.  "A monster under the bed."

      "Why should he do you a favor after what you did yesterday?" Takato snapped.

      "That guy has a lot of nerve," Jenrya muttered.

      "And he's supposed to be a chaperone?" Juri grunted as she ate her chili.

      Akkenai ignored all of them.  "PUHLEEEEZE tell Sera we've made up!" he pleaded with Tsuyosa, giving him a sad look.  "She's mad at me and I think she thinks I did something to you so you've gotta set her straight!"

      "We... made up?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.

      "Sera's mad at me, and as near as I can tell, you running off yesterday is what caused it!" Akkenai explained franticly.  "So tell her we're friends again so she can forgive me and I can get my shot at having nookie with her back!"

      "... We're... friends?" Tsuyosa eyed Akkenai, dubiously.

      "Yes!" Akkenai nodded vigorously.

      "Some 'friend'," Takato muttered.

      "Funny...  I wonder when this happened," Ruki snorted.  "Especially since even Tsuyosa didn't know it."  Jenrya nodded, frowning.

      "..." Tsuyosa tried to back way from Akkenai.  "... Um..."

      "So will you tell her?" Akkenai gave Tsuyosa a sad and pathetic look.  "PLEEEEAAZE, old buddy, old pal?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa tried to bolt for the door, away from Akkenai.

      Akkenai quickly cut Tsuyosa off, grabbing his arm tightly.  "Where ya goin', buddy?" he asked, genuinely confused.  "Are ya going to tell Sera?"

      "I..."  Tsuyosa obviously wanted no part of whatever Akkenai was planning, but was too frightened of the boy to say so.  One could see why, given how frail Tsuyosa was and how utterly boorish Akkenai was.  There was simply no comparison.

      "Leave Tsuyosa alone," Takato said angrily to Akkenai as he set down his chili and milk.

      "You're such a bully," Juri scowled at Akkenai.

      Akkenai ignored the Tamers as if they weren't even in the room with him and Tsuyosa.  "Come oooon, how about we go tell Sera right now?" he suggested as he glomped onto Tsuyosa.  "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

      Tsuyosa squeaked and squirmed, trying to get away in an almost panicked fashion.

      Akkenai blinked and then snuggled closer to Tsuyosa.  "You know, you feel pretty good, Tsuyosa," Akkenai crooned as he ran his hands along Tsuyosa's body.

      Tsuyosa let out a startled squeal and writhed to get free, near hysterical.

      ChibiBa's growling grew louder.

      "HEY!  STOP THAT!" Takato yelled as he strode quickly over to Akkenai.  "LET HIM GO!"

      "Oooh...  Fluffy!" Akkenai crooned and then blinked at Takato.  "Hmm?  When did you get here?"

      "He doesn't like it!  Let him go!" Juri agreed as she strode up after Takato, glowering.

      "Let him go right now, or you'll regret it," Ruki growled threateningly.

      Akkenai blinked at the Tamers as if seeing them for the first time, as he remained glomped onto Tsuyosa tightly.  "Huh?  How long have you all been there?" Akkenai blinked.

      ChibiBa growled in a feral manner as he peered out of the backpack, glaring.

      "We've been here this whole time," Jenrya said, anger evident in his voice.  "Leave Tsuyosa alone!  He doesn't want you touching him like that!"

      "Dude, that's just shameless!" Hirokazu growled.

      "Yeah," Kenta scowled.

      "What is?" Akkenai blinked, acting as if he had no idea what they meant.  "I just want Tsuyosa to do me a favor!"

      "So you molest him!?" Juri snarled.

      "I'm just being friendly," Akkenai crooned 'innocently' as he snuggled against Tsuyosa.

      "STOP IT!" Takato demanded loudly.  "Let Tsuyosa go right now!"

      Tsuyosa yelped and tried to get free, twisting about to try and slip out of Akkenai's arms.

      "But he's so fluffy!" Akkenai whined.  "Besides, he's gotta tell Sera we're friends again so she'll stop hitting me!"

      A loud crunch issued from behind Tsuyosa's bed as ChibiBa tried to control himself by chewing on the bed's leg.

      Akkenai didn't seem to notice.  "Come on, Tsuuuuuyoooosaaaa," he crooned.  "Tell Sera we're buddies!  If you do I'll have some nookie with you too!"  He then grinned brightly.  "Maybe we can do it in a three-some!"

      "W-WHAT!?" Tsuyosa shrieked, flushed.  "YOU'RE INSANE!"

      A loud snap issued as the bed toppled over, one leg severed completely off.

      ChibiBa could stand no more.

      With a roar, ChibiBa lunged and latched on to Akkenai's leg.

      Akkenai instantly let go of Tsuyosa as ChibiBa sunk his fangs into the teenager's leg.  "GOBLIN!!!" Akkenai shrieked shrilly as he hopped around, shaking his leg violently.  "GETITOFFGETITOFF!!!"

      Tsuyosa scrambled back with a squeak as ChibiBa chewed violently.

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked, concerned, as he hurried over to Tsuyosa.

      Akkenai tried in vain to get ChibiBa off of his leg, but the angry Mega was not to be deterred.

      "I..." Tsuyosa was beet red in the face, totally humiliated.  With a strangled cry, he charged out the door and tried to get away from the fact that once again he had been embarrassed in front of everyone.

      ChibiBa chewed twice as hard.

      "Tsuyosa!" Takato cried before he quickly chased after the fleeing boy.

      "GETITOFF!" Akkenai screamed shrilly, his voice filled with fear and pain.

      Tsuyosa twisted about and bolted behind the cabin before he slumped against the wall and shivered uncontrollably.

      ChibiBa growled viciously as he chewed, then yelped as he was kicked off in mid-chomp.  However, not to be deterred, he immediately made to lunge once more.

      Akkenai squealed and fled from ChibiBa as if his life depended on it; which it probably did.

      ChibiBa chased after Akkenai, dead set on making Akkenai just that: dead.

      Takato chased after Tsuyosa, coming to a halt a few feet away from the humiliated boy.  "Tsuyosa?" Takato said gently as he approached Tsuyosa.

      "... What?" came the muffled whisper as the boy propped his arms on his knees and leaned forward buried his face in them.

      Takato kneeled down next to Tsuyosa.  "... Are you okay?" Takato asked.

      "... Yes."  An obvious lie.

      Takato sighed, knowing Tsuyosa wasn't going to make it easy.  Takato sat down completely next to Tsuyosa, nearly touching the other boy.

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly and raised his head to look at Takato, his cheeks still red and his eyes a little blurry.

      Takato looked back at Tsuyosa, trying to figure out how to console the molested boy.  "..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa rested his head against his arms and shivered, slightly.  "... Everyone's going to laugh again, aren't they?"

      "..."  Takato was taken back by that.  "No, they won't laugh at you, Tsuyosa," he said soothingly.

      "... Why not?  It was funny," Tsuyosa muttered, bitterly.  "Everyone laughs..."

      "No, it wasn't funny," Takato said firmly.  "No one's going to laugh at you."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered again.  "Someone pushed me down some stairs once.  They thought it was funny.  Everyone laughed."

      Takato's eyes widened.  "That's terrible!"

      "... They stopped laughing, though," Tsuyosa continued.  "... When ChibiBa burned down their tree house with a flamethrower.  He used to do things like that... before I asked him to stop.  He hasn't done anything like that since."

      Takato blinked slowly, stunned, but decided not to make any comment.

      "..."  Tsuyosa rested his chin against his arms, blinking slowly.  "... Then someone kicked a chair out from under me so I fell on my back... then stepped on me.  Everyone laughed then, too...  At least, until during the track meet that day... where ChibiBa grabbed one of the hurdles and yanked it upwards, hitting the guy hard as he was jumping over it."

      Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "That was before I asked ChibiBa to stop, though."

      "Uh... right," Takato muttered, sweat-dropping.

      "... But... the last time..." Tsuyosa closed his eyes and shivered, quietly.  "... The last time... this one kid attacked me."

      Takato tensed slightly.  Silently he reached out and put a hand on Tsuyosa's knee, trying to offer comfort.

      Tsuyosa paused, then opened his eyes and seemed to stare at nothing.  "... I'm not sure why...  I didn't even know him... but he jumped me one day between classes."

      "That's horrible...," Takato whispered, aghast.

      "... I couldn't fight back..." Tsuyosa muttered.  "... I managed to get to the nurses' office and they sent me home...  I had a black eye and one of my ribs was broken."

      "..."  Takato moved his hand to Tsuyosa's shoulder.

      "..." Tsuyosa glanced at the hand, and then closed his eyes.  "I passed out after that so I don't know what happened... but when I woke up, I found out that what happened to me was nothing compared to what ChibiBa did to that boy."

      Takato tensed, having a bad feeling about what Tsuyosa was going to say next.

      "ChibiBa... had snuck out of the house when I was unconscious," Tsuyosa opened his eyes and looked at Takato.  "... Later that day, they found the boy under a pile of lockers.  Someone had literally ripped them off the wall and threw them at him.  They had to take him to the hospital."

      Takato gasped, his eyes widening drastically.  "... He... he didn't..."

      "... I knew ChibiBa had done it... because there isn't any other way to explain it."

      Tsuyosa leaned back against the wall.

      "..."  Takato had no idea what he could say.

      "The boy was in the hospital for a while and when he got back out, he never went near me again.  Not many people did, either."  Tsuyosa shook his head.  "... But that's when I told ChibiBa not to do it anymore.  I didn't want him hurting people..."

      "... Tsuyosa..."

      Tsuyosa shifted slightly.  "... He promised me he wouldn't... and he stopped.  But everyone was already so terrified of me that only the really stupid people bother with me now.  Like Akkenai."

      "... They still laugh, though.  Just when they think I can't hear." Tsuyosa looked at Takato, quietly.

      "Tsuyosa..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa sympathetically.  "No one's going to laugh at you.  Trust me.  We're not like those jerks."

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then sighed.  "... It's probably my fault anyway."

      "It's not your fault!"  Takato placed his hands firmly on Tsuyosa's shoulders.  "Akkenai's just a perverted creep!  It's not your fault he came after you!"

      Tsuyosa tensed at the contact before he forced himself to relax and looked at Takato, quietly.  "... But..."

      "But nothing.  You didn't do anything wrong," Takato insisted firmly.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, quietly.

      "... Even after everything I said to you...," Tsuyosa choked slightly, then looked at the ground.  "... You'd still say that?"

      "... Well... yeah."  Takato looked down for a moment before looking back up at Tsuyosa.  "... Like I said before...  I understand you now, Tsuyosa..."

      "... I...," Tsuyosa faltered, then swallowed quietly.  "... I'm sorry, Takato...  I shouldn't have said what I did..."

      "Hey, it's okay, Tsuyosa."  Takato smiled warmly at Tsuyosa.  "I forgive you."

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, his cheeks flushed.  "... I... never did thank you for saving me, did I?"

      "Hey, you don't have to thank me."  Takato scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed.  "ChibiBa did do most of the work after all..."

      "... I want to thank you for everything....," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "Um...  Well...  You're welcome," Takato muttered, blushing slightly.

      In the bushes near the two, ChibiBa crouched quietly and glowered.  His entire body seethed with rage as he snarled silently at Takato.  After chasing Akkenai halfway across the camp, he decided to come back and make sure Tsuyosa was all right.

      ChibiBa crouched even more, eyes narrowed.  He couldn't do anything then; he had promised Tsuyosa that he wouldn't hurt anyone else again.

      At least, he had promised he wouldn't let Tsuyosa find out about him hurting anyone else again.

      ChibiBa snarled in a feral manner.

      He just had to wait until Takato was alone.


	20. To Trap A Tamer Thief

Authors' Notes: And so on the fourth day, the two authors posted, and it was fun!  Yup, we're still going on strong with Dreaming to Reality, and believe me, the roller coaster ride's only getting more wild from here!  So sit back, relax, and enjoy!  Of course you know by now that Tsuyosa, Sera, and any and all other characters, along with this story, belong to us, so no stealing!  Oh, and in case you clicked on the wrong link above, I'll let you know right now that this is the fully uncensored version of this chapter, so there will be shonen ai (boy/boy love) contained within here.  If you don't like that sort of thing, then you'd better switch to the yaoi-free version now.  Otherwise, enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 16: To Trap A Tamer Thief**

***~***

      "Well, that was a total flop..."

      "Nyar."

      "Not for me!"

      Pandamon and Black Tailmon turned to glower at Opossomon.  They sat on rocks that littered the area, the ground a dusty brown and looking quite dead.  The sky seemed much the same as red covered the horizon, which gave way to an overall mud-color.

      "I made that purple freak uncute!" Opossomon giggled happily.

      "... So it doesn't bother you that we're back at the Digital World... Tamerless?" Pandamon muttered in disbelief.

      "Yes, but he's not cute anymore!" Opossomon chirped.

      "At least we have the circus equipment still intact," Black Tailmon pointed out.  "But it still hurts my pride, nyar."

      "Cute or not... we lost!" Pandamon growled, then sighed miserably.  "But you're right... at least we're not out of business."

      "So where to next, boss?" Opossomon blinked and then glanced from Pandamon to Black Tailmon.  "... 7,893."  Opossomon grinned cutely.

      "... Stop that or I'll gut you," Black Tailmon glowered.

      Opossomon giggled insanely.

      "I guess all we can do is get back to work while we try to figure out a plan," Pandamon shook his head.

      "Nothing wrong with that, boss," Black Tailmon tilted her head.  "We still have the trailer, so we can easily go back and forth...  We just need to do a few shows before trying again."

      "What's the point if those kids will get in the way again?" Pandamon sighed, dejectedly.  "There's no point..."

      "How about we relocate to another city?" Opossomon offered before pausing momentarily.  "... 7,894."

      Black Tailmon let out a deep growl as a vein twitched.

      "... But then I'd never see Tsu-chan again...," Pandamon whimpered.

      "... You are so smitten," Black Tailmon blinked slowly.

      "Huh."  Opossomon kicked his feet idly.  "Too bad we can't keep them from evolving," he muttered.

      "We can," Black Tailmon retorted.  "By sealing their Tamers in crystal.  STUPID."

      "We'll have to work out a way for them to see you dance... because once you start, they can't look away... but I imagine their digimon still can move," Pandamon grunted.

      "Ahem."

      "Oooh, a customer?" Opossomon blinked as he looked up.

      A Bakemon hovered over the three, floating down before it coughed again and looked at them expectantly.

      "Oh.  It's you."  Black Tailmon wrinkled her nose.

      "I was wondering when you'd show up," Pandamon snorted, then leaned back.  "Here for the toll?"

      "Toll... tribute... whatever you wish to call it," the Bakemon replied.  "Where are the goods?"

      "Opossomon."  Pandamon stretched, then glanced at the mentioned underling.

      "Right, right," Opossomon sighed dramatically.  He tugged on his gloves before reaching over into Black Tailmon's ear and apparently pulling out a pair of panties.  He continued pulling as it was tied to another undergarment, and yet another.

      Black Tailmon's eyes widened drastically as the underwear slipped out of her ear in an endless stream.  "H-hey!" she squeaked.

      "Bravo!" Pandamon clapped his paws, grinning.

      Soon there was a huge pile of lacy women's undergarments on the ground; all tied together like a magic scarf in a magician's act.  Opossomon grinned and hopped onto his feet before taking a bow.  "Thank you, thank you," he chirped and gestured at Black Tailmon.  "And thanks to my assistant for having ears the size of Tokyo!"

      Black Tailmon twitched, and then whacked Opossomon over the head.  Opossomon yelped and fell over into the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust around him.

      "There's your toll," Pandamon pointed at the underwear.  Bakemon nodded happily, then leaned over to scoop them all up.  "I trust it's enough?"

      "Master will be pleased!" Bakemon crowed.  "He was running out of clean underwear!"

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon nodded as she crossed her arms.  "We would have gotten chocolate but there are so many kinds we didn't know which he'd prefer."

      "White, dark, light, milk, bittersweet, semi-sweet, candy-coated, Spanish fly-laced," Opossomon ticked off on his fingers.  "So many choices!"

      "Master is very picky about his chocolate," Bakemon agreed, sagely.  "PMS is a bitch."

      "... What's PMS?" Pandamon asked.  The Bakemon shrugged in response.

***~***

      "Cululululuuuuu!"

      "... Eh?" Impmon looked up, blinking.  "... Is that...?"

      Impmon stared as Culumon darted past, squealing.  Hot on his heels was a fuzzy brown squirrel, chattering angrily.

      "..."  Impmon face-faulted.

      "Go away, bad squirrel!  Go away!  Cuculululuuuu!" Culumon squeaked as he flailed his arms franticly.

      "... You're pathetic," Impmon sighed, then lifted a finger.  "NIGHT OF FIRE!"  With a snarl, he flung a fireball at the squirrel.  The squirrel squeaked and darted for a tree, its tail sizzling.

      "YAY!  WONDER IMPMON!" Culumon cackled as Impmon watched the squirrel run from sight in to the boughs.  "YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  Wonder Impmon, you're my hero!  Culucululu!"  Culumon cheered as he ran up to Impmon and began to dance around the other digimon.

      "... You're VERY pathetic!" Impmon snapped.

      "Culu...  What does pathetic mean?" Culumon blinked up innocently at Impmon.

      "You," Impmon snorted.  "Where've you been, anyway!?"

      "I'm not pathetic, I'm Culumon!" Culumon blinked.  "Culu...  Well I went looking for something to eat when I found a nut!  It was almost like a soccer ball!  Culucululu!  When I tried to score a goal with it that meanie squirrel started chasing me!  Culucululululu!"

      "... ..."  Impmon just shook his head and started walking away.

      "Culu?  Where're you going Wonder Impmon?"  Culumon hurried after Impmon, blinking curiously at him.

      "... Around," Impmon grunted, irritably.

      "Heh... heh... heh..."

      The sound of digging reached their ears, scratchy and dull.

      "Cululu?  What's that?" Culumon blinked.

      "I don't know..."  Impmon headed towards the sound, blinking.  Around the corner, behind some bushes, was ChibiBa.  ChibiBa dug furiously, his claws swiping at the ground as he disappeared almost entirely in to a gigantic hole.  A large pile of dirt rested beside the hole as the small Mega dug.

      "Culucululu?  Hey, what'cha doin'?" Culumon blinked as he peered into the hole at ChibiBa.  ChibiBa tensed and glanced up, then snorted and returned to digging.

      "Making a trap."

      "A trap?" Impmon blinked.  "For who?"

      "Takato."

      "Whyyyy?" Culumon blinked.

      "To kill him."

      "CULUCULULULU!" Culumon squealed as he flailed his arms.

      "Why would you want to kill goggle face!?" Impmon stared.

      "He's getting too close to Tsu."

      "Then tell him to take a step backwards!  Culuculululu," Culumon blinked.

      "It's not that simple," Impmon sighed, exasperated.

      "I'll kill him.  That's simple enough."

      "Whyyy?  Culululu?" Culumon whimpered as his ears retracted.

      "Because no one takes advantage of my Tsu and gets away with it."

      "... Okay, man, you've got problems," Impmon shook his head.

      "No, Takato does."

      "He does?" Culumon blinked innocently.

      "Yes," ChibiBa wiped the dirt from his claws.  "Especially after I fill this pit with barbed wire."

      "... You're insane," Impmon stared.  "You can't kill people!"

      "No, but goblins can."

      "CULUCULULULULU!  Goblin!?  Where!?" Culumon yelped as he looked around franticly and quickly hid behind Impmon.  Impmon glanced at Culumon, then sighed and shook his head.

      "I'm getting out of here...  People might think I'm responsible," Impmon grunted as he turned to walk away.

      "CULUCULULU!  Wait for me, Wonder Impmon!" Culumon squealed as he darted after Impmon quickly.

      "I wouldn't go that way," ChibiBa warned.

      "Why's that?" Impmon snorted as he stepped, then blinked as he heard an audible click.

      Impmon glanced down as a net snapped up, snagging him and Culumon at once.

      "CULULULULULULUUU!" Culumon squeaked as he flailed franticly.

      "H-HEY!  What is this!?" Impmon shrieked as they dangled over the air.  ChibiBa paused to look at them, blandly.

      "... Oh, that's going to hurt," he muttered.  Impmon blinked, then paled.

      "What is?" he squeaked.

      ChibiBa merely pointed as two boulders suddenly swung towards the net, suspended to the tree by rope.

      "CULUCULUCULU!" Culumon shrieked, his eyes widening to the size of saucers as he saw the boulders, and squirmed franticly.

      Impmon shrieked as the boulders slammed in to the net, one on either side in a smashing manner.  Culumon quivered as he stared, having managed to move far enough away from the middle to avoid them.

      Impmon wasn't as lucky, however.

      ChibiBa blinked and stared as the boulders slowly drifted back, leaving a very bruised and beaten Impmon.  Impmon collapsed in a heap, looking quite dazed.

      "S'allright?" ChibiBa asked, tilting his head.

      "S'okay...," Impmon whimpered.

***~***

      The Tamers weren't really concerned about the 'goblin scare' that terrified the rest of the camp; they knew what the goblin really was.  So, once boredom finally claimed them, the Tamers snuck out to explore the camp.  The experience was actually rather enjoyable, as the camp was quiet and undisturbed as children hid inside cabins.

      "Oi!"

      Kenta blinked and looked around, then shrugged and returned to looking at the Marine Angemon card he got from Tsuyosa.  Such was a mistake as seconds later, a pair of arms wrapped around his neck.

      Kenta gagged as Hirokazu suddenly grabbed him in a headlock and dragged him away from the others.

      "OOOOOI!" Hirokazu repeated.

      "Gah!" Kenta choked as he tried to get Hirokazu to loosen his grip.

      "What's that goofball up to now?" Ruki muttered as she leaned against a tree.

      "Guy stuff?" Juri shrugged.

      "Oooi!  Kenta!" Hirokazu repeated.  "You've got to help me!"

      "Gah?" Kenta coughed as he continued to struggle.

      Marine Angemon blinked up at Kenta and Hirokazu from his place inside Kenta's shirt pocket.  Normally he'd try and help his Tamer when he looked to be in trouble, but since Kenta tended to get roughhoused by Hirokazu, Marine Angemon took it all as just life as usual.

      "You've got to help me!" Hirokazu repeated. "It's important!"

      "O-okay!  Okay!" Kenta managed to choke out.

      "Good!" Hirokazu beamed.

      "What are you up to now?" Ruki spat.

      "Noooothing," Hirokazu grinned.

      "I think it's something!  Yip!  Yip!" Juri's puppet 'barked'.

      "Definitely," Ruki snarled.

      "What's going on?" Jenrya asked.

      "Hey, why do you always suspect me?" Hirokazu muttered.  "It's not something bad!"

      "Then what is it?" Ruki snapped.

      "... I want Kenta to help me hook Takato up with someone!" Hirokazu replied.

      "Who?" Juri blinked and then made her puppet bark.  "Rawf!  Tsuyosa?"

      "How'd you guess?" Hirokazu stared, shocked, at Juri.

      "Just a hunch," Juri giggled and then made her puppet move again.  "Bow wow!  They do make a cute couple!  Yip!"

      "..." Jenrya blinked slowly.

      "You're kidding, right?" Ruki crossed her arms.

      "They're perfect!" Hirokazu cackled.

      "You're just saying that because Tengoku bought us free pizza before," Ruki snapped.

      "Dude, anyone who buys us free pizza is damned cool," Hirokazu retorted.  "AND he let Kenta have a card!  FOR FREE!  That card is rare!  And he just gave it away!"

      "... Did you forget everything else he's done?" Ruki stared at Hirokazu in disbelief.

      "Eh, he probably had a good reason," Hirokazu shrugged.  "He had issues or something... maybe it had something to do with his dad."

      "He's repeatedly insulted Takato and Guilmon, AND had his digimon attack both them AND you and Guardromon!"

      "He's not doing it NOW, is he?" Hirokazu blinked.  "And he bought us pizza!"

      "... You just like him because he gave Kenta that card and might give one to you too," Ruki snapped.

      "Dude.  He gave us pizza and Kenta an expensive card... AND might give ME one."  Hirokazu's eyes glazed.  "Dude... he is godly."

      Ruki snorted and shook her head.

      "Can't argue with that logic." Jenrya chuckled.

      "He might even give me that really weird card I've never seen before!" Hirokazu continued, his voice a bare whisper.  "It was sooooo cool!  I never saw anything like it!"

      "What card is that?" Juri blinked.

      "It looked like this really cool castle with four pillars... and it was surrounded by these strands of code!  It must have been holographic, because it kept shimmering.  I couldn't read what it did, though... the writing was weird," Hirokazu replied.

      "I've never heard of that card," Jenrya blinked.

      "It sounds cool!" Juri chirped.  "I'd love to see it sometime."

      "Dude," Hirokazu agreed, sagely.

      Kenta gagged and rubbed his neck as he finally worked his way out of Hirokazu's chokehold.  "Gah," he muttered.

      Suddenly a scream pierced the air like a knife.

      "WHAT?!" Jenrya jumped to his feet.  "That sounded like..."

      Ruki whirled and darted towards the sound.

      "TAKATO!"

***~***

      "Culu!" Culumon giggled as he played in the water, blowing around soapsuds.

      Impmon sulked angrily, his cheek twitching as a pile of suds sat on his head.

      Sera giggled as she knelt next to the bathtub where the two digimon were bathing in.  After Impmon and Culumon had been liberated from ChibiBa's trap, Sera had used a card to take care of Impmon's wounds.  However, there was no card to take care of the dirt and blood that had clung to both his and Culumon's fur.  Thus Sera decided that it'd be best if the two digimon got a bath.

      The only bathing facilities in the camp were the public hot springs, which had too much of a risk of the digimon being seen to be considered, and the private bath in the main female councilor's cabin.  After a bit of talking with the big-busted councilor, Sera managed to get permission to bathe her two 'stuffed animals' while Bambi was having a meeting with the other councilors.

      Impmon wasn't thrilled of the idea, however.  Something about being bathed bothered him.

      "Yay!  Yay!  Bubbles are fun!  Culuculululu!" Culumon squealed as he blew bubbles everywhere.

      "Aw shove it," Impmon snapped.

      "Is something wrong, Impmon?" Sera blinked.

      "... No."

      "Well you don't seem to be enjoying your bath," Sera pointed out.

      "Bath time's fun!" Culumon agreed as he splashed some water at Impmon.

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "Hey, no splashing," Sera lightly scolded.

      "Cululu," Culumon responded and began blowing more bubbles.

      "... Eeeeggghh...," Impmon grumbled.

      "You know, Impmon, you're not going to get clean unless you start scrubbing yourself," Sera commented as she picked up the soap.

      "W-w-whuh?" Impmon stared.

      "The dirt's not going to come out on its own," Sera explained as she lathered up her hands.  "Here, I'll help."  She then reached out and started rubbing her soapy hands against Impmon's head, gently scrubbing his fur.

      Impmon's eyes widened as he started to blush.  "..."

      Culumon blinked as he looked at Impmon.  The small white and purple digimon looked between both Sera and Impmon for a moment before looking back at Impmon again.  "Culuuuu... Heeey," Culumon blinked.  "Are you going to try and swallow each others' faces like those people in the park?"

      "... ... ..."  Impmon paled drastically.

      "Huh?  What do you mean?" Sera blinked at Culumon as she lathered up Impmon's ears.

      "..."  Impmon coughed quietly.

      "Lots of people at the park try to swallow each other at the same time and their faces turn all red and sweaty before they do it.  Culuculululu," Culumon cheerfully said, feeling smart for knowing something someone else didn't.

      "... Shut up, moron," Impmon snapped as he slouched.

      "... Oh!  You mean kissing," Sera said after a moment, blinking again as her cheeks turned lightly pink at the thought.  "Why would you say that?"

      "Culuuu!  'Cause Impmon's face's all red and sweaty when he looks at you!" Culumon cheerfully pointed out.  He then blinked as he looked at Sera.  "Cululuuu!  Ooooh!  Your face is changing colors tooooo!  Culucululu!"

      Sera blinked, but said nothing as her blush deepened.

      Impmon snarled and lunged, dunking Culumon in to the water.  "I SAID CAN IT!"  Culumon squeaked and flailed, splashing water everywhere as he was dunked.

      Sera yelped and covered her face as soapy water was splashed in her direction.  "Hey!  No splashing!" she yelped.

      Impmon released Culumon and sulked angrily in his corner of the bathtub.

      Culumon surfaced from the water with a gasp, splashing water as he did so.  "CULU!  That was MEAN, Impmon!" he pouted.

      "So?" Impmon glared.

      "Cululu!  MEANIE!" Culumon puffed out his cheeks angrily.

      "Grrr," Impmon glowered.

      "Hey, calm down you two," Sera said soothingly.  "Just enjoy the bath and try not to drown each other, okay?"

      "Hmph," Impmon sulked.

      "Yeah!  Culu!" Culumon agreed.  He then resumed blowing bubbles, giggling merrily as he did so.

      Sera sighed and shook her head at Impmon's attitude.  She then reached out and resumed cleaning him.

      Impmon flushed, embarrassed, and glared at the water.  He refused to look at Sera or Culumon, trying to will them away.

      Culumon didn't seem to notice as he continued to blow bubbles and giggle.

      "Come on, cheer up, Impmon," Sera smiled at Impmon.  "This isn't so bad is it?"  She removed her hands from the purple digimon once she finished soaping up most of his head.  "And once you're done you'll feel better because you'll be all nice and clean."

      "..."  Impmon scowled darkly.

      Sera sighed and tried to not let Impmon's scowling faze her as she turned on the showerhead.  "Cover your eyes," she said before she began to rinse the soap off him.

      Impmon sputtered and covered his eyes, wincing as the soapy water trailed down his face.

      After the soap was gone, Impmon grumbled and wiped his eyes with his wet paws.  "... Are you in a bad mood because of that incident with the cards?" Sera asked as she turned off the showerhead.

      "... ..." Impmon glowered.

      "It was an accident," Sera frowned.  "I didn't know Culumon was looking at the regeneration card and put a different one where I put it down."

      "It was a pretty card!" Culumon added cheerfully.

      "... It had self destruct as a side effect," Impmon grunted.  "How can you mistake one card for the other?  They didn't even have the same picture!"

      "Well... I wasn't paying attention.  So sue me," Sera muttered as she blushed indignantly.  "I was paying more attention to how hurt you were."

      "So you hurt me more?" Impmon grumbled quietly as he slumped in to the tub.

      "..."  Sera looked down solemnly.  "I'm sorry..."

      "... S'okay."  Impmon blew bubbles.

      Silence reigned aside from Culumon's giggling and Impmon blowing bubbles, as Sera continued to look down, feeling bad about her earlier mistake.

      "Culuculuculu!" Culumon cheered as he swam over to Impmon and quickly scrambled up the other digimon's head before he could protest.  "Diving board!"

      "ACK!?" Impmon blinked.

      "CULU!" Culumon giggled before he took a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks cutely, and jumped off Impmon's head, diving into the water with a large splash.

      Impmon shrieked as the soapy water hit his face, causing him to recoil and wipe at his eyes furiously.

      Sera blinked and looked up just in time to see the miniature wave of bath water as it splashed in every direction.  She cried out in alarm as she instantly became soaked.

      Culumon surfaced from the water giggling insanely.  "WEE!  So much fun!  Culuculululu!" he giggled as he splashed about in the water.

      "I said no splashing!" Sera sputtered as she wiped the soapy water away from her eyes and face.

      "I'm going to kill you, you little-!" Impmon spat angrily.   However, he didn't finish as his eyes suddenly widened drastically.

      The sheer amount of water that had hit Sera ended up completely soaking her, and caused her clothes to cling to her body like a second skin.

      They had also become noticeably translucent.

      Impmon stared in shock, twitching, as his cheeks blushed violently.

      "Cululu!  Look!  Impmon's changing colors again!" Culumon giggled, gleefully.

      Sera blinked at Culumon and then glanced at Impmon.  "What is it, Impmon?" she blinked.  She then grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling of the wet clothes against her body.  She rolled up part of her shirt and started wringing out as much water as she possibly could from it.

      Such was a huge mistake.

      Seconds later, Impmon's eyes doubled in size.  He tilted his head back and shrieked as blood squirted from his nose.  His shriek ended with a gurgle as he passed out in to the tub water.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried in alarm as she quickly pulled Impmon out of the water before he drowned.

      Culumon blinked and tilted his head.

      "Culu, was it something I said?"

***~***

      "... DUDE... what HAPPENED?"

      Takato sighed as he looked down at the other Tamers.  He was currently dangling from a tree by a rope snare tied around his ankle.

      "... Dare I ask?" Ruki crossed her arms.

      "..." Takato sighed again.  "All I was doing was walking and suddenly I got caught in this trap!"

      "But what is a trap doing here?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "Y-you don't think there's a real goblin, do you?" Kenta whimpered, his glasses fogging.

      "Don't be silly," Juri soothed.  "Maybe it's just some old trap campers set up for merit badges or something."

      "Complete with boulders?" Ruki pointed.

      In the tree, tangled among the branches, were two large boulders suspended by rope. The rope itself was caught in the wood, preventing any harm or damage they might have originally intended to cause.

      "Who could have made this trap and why?" Jenrya wondered.  "Takato could have gotten seriously hurt!"

      "Hey guys...," Takato began.

      "You don't suppose someone really wants to hurt Takato?" Kenta squeaked.

      "I hope not," Juri frowned.

      "Hey guys," Takato repeated.

      "But who'd want to... hey...," Hirokazu paused, suddenly, and then stared.  "... Isn't that... ChibiBa?"

      A brief scuffle issued in the bushes, followed by the pitter-patter of feet.

      "..." Ruki scowled.  "Looks like Tengoku hasn't changed after all."

      "But..." Hirokazu blinked.  "But it doesn't make sense...  He bought us PIZZA!"

      "That doesn't mean he's changed," Ruki snapped.  "He might have been grateful for being rescued, but it doesn't look like he's changed his opinion about Takato at all."

      "It can't be..." Juri muttered.

      "It does seem like it..." Jenrya frowned.

      "GUYS!"

      The Tamers brought their attention to Takato who was squirming slightly.

      "Could someone please get me down?!"

      "Oh, dude..." Hirokazu blinked.  "You're still up there?"


	21. To Trap A Tamer Thief (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: And so on the fourth day, the two authors posted, and it was fun!  Yup, we're still going on strong with Dreaming to Reality, and believe me, the roller coaster ride's only getting more wild from here!  So sit back, relax, and enjoy!  Of course you know by now that Tsuyosa, Sera, and any and all other characters, along with this story, belong to us, so no stealing!  Oh, and in case you clicked on the wrong link above, I'll let you know right now that this is the yaoi-free version of this chapter, so there will be NO shonen ai (boy/boy love) contained within here.  If you didn't mean to select the yaoi-free version of this chapter, then you better switch to the uncensored version of the chapter now.  Otherwise, enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 16: To Trap A Tamer Thief**

***~***

      "Well, that was a total flop..."

      "Nyar."

      "Not for me!"

      Pandamon and Black Tailmon turned to glower at Opossomon.  They sat on rocks that littered the area, the ground a dusty brown and looking quite dead.  The sky seemed much the same as red covered the horizon, which gave way to an overall mud-color.

      "I made that purple freak uncute!" Opossomon giggled happily.

      "... So it doesn't bother you that we're back at the Digital World... Tamerless?" Pandamon muttered in disbelief.

      "Yes, but he's not cute anymore!" Opossomon chirped.

      "At least we have the circus equipment still intact," Black Tailmon pointed out.  "But it still hurts my pride, nyar."

      "Cute or not... we lost!" Pandamon growled, then sighed miserably.  "But you're right... at least we're not out of business."

      "So where to next, boss?" Opossomon blinked and then glanced from Pandamon to Black Tailmon.  "... 7,893."  Opossomon grinned cutely.

      "... Stop that or I'll gut you," Black Tailmon glowered.

      Opossomon giggled insanely.

      "I guess all we can do is get back to work while we try to figure out a plan," Pandamon shook his head.

      "Nothing wrong with that, boss," Black Tailmon tilted her head.  "We still have the trailer, so we can easily go back and forth...  We just need to do a few shows before trying again."

      "What's the point if those kids will get in the way again?" Pandamon sighed, dejectedly.  "There's no point..."

      "How about we relocate to another city?" Opossomon offered before pausing momentarily.  "... 7,894."

      Black Tailmon let out a deep growl as a vein twitched.

      "... But then I'd never see Tsu-chan again...," Pandamon whimpered.

      "... You are so smitten," Black Tailmon blinked slowly.

      "Huh."  Opossomon kicked his feet idly.  "Too bad we can't keep them from evolving," he muttered.

      "We can," Black Tailmon retorted.  "By sealing their Tamers in crystal.  STUPID."

      "We'll have to work out a way for them to see you dance... because once you start, they can't look away... but I imagine their digimon still can move," Pandamon grunted.

      "Ahem."

      "Oooh, a customer?" Opossomon blinked as he looked up.

      A Bakemon hovered over the three, floating down before it coughed again and looked at them expectantly.

      "Oh.  It's you."  Black Tailmon wrinkled her nose.

      "I was wondering when you'd show up," Pandamon snorted, then leaned back.  "Here for the toll?"

      "Toll... tribute... whatever you wish to call it," the Bakemon replied.  "Where are the goods?"

      "Opossomon."  Pandamon stretched, then glanced at the mentioned underling.

      "Right, right," Opossomon sighed dramatically.  He tugged on his gloves before reaching over into Black Tailmon's ear and apparently pulling out a pair of panties.  He continued pulling as it was tied to another undergarment, and yet another.

      Black Tailmon's eyes widened drastically as the underwear slipped out of her ear in an endless stream.  "H-hey!" she squeaked.

      "Bravo!" Pandamon clapped his paws, grinning.

      Soon there was a huge pile of lacy women's undergarments on the ground; all tied together like a magic scarf in a magician's act.  Opossomon grinned and hopped onto his feet before taking a bow.  "Thank you, thank you," he chirped and gestured at Black Tailmon.  "And thanks to my assistant for having ears the size of Tokyo!"

      Black Tailmon twitched, and then whacked Opossomon over the head.  Opossomon yelped and fell over into the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust around him.

      "There's your toll," Pandamon pointed at the underwear.  Bakemon nodded happily, then leaned over to scoop them all up.  "I trust it's enough?"

      "Master will be pleased!" Bakemon crowed.  "He was running out of clean underwear!"

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon nodded as she crossed her arms.  "We would have gotten chocolate but there are so many kinds we didn't know which he'd prefer."

      "White, dark, light, milk, bittersweet, semi-sweet, candy-coated, Spanish fly-laced," Opossomon ticked off on his fingers.  "So many choices!"

      "Master is very picky about his chocolate," Bakemon agreed, sagely.  "PMS is a bitch."

      "... What's PMS?" Pandamon asked.  The Bakemon shrugged in response.

***~***

      "Cululululuuuuu!"

      "... Eh?" Impmon looked up, blinking.  "... Is that...?"

      Impmon stared as Culumon darted past, squealing.  Hot on his heels was a fuzzy brown squirrel, chattering angrily.

      "..."  Impmon face-faulted.

      "Go away, bad squirrel!  Go away!  Cuculululuuuu!" Culumon squeaked as he flailed his arms franticly.

      "... You're pathetic," Impmon sighed, then lifted a finger.  "NIGHT OF FIRE!"  With a snarl, he flung a fireball at the squirrel.  The squirrel squeaked and darted for a tree, its tail sizzling.

      "YAY!  WONDER IMPMON!" Culumon cackled as Impmon watched the squirrel run from sight in to the boughs.  "YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  Wonder Impmon, you're my hero!  Culucululu!"  Culumon cheered as he ran up to Impmon and began to dance around the other digimon.

      "... You're VERY pathetic!" Impmon snapped.

      "Culu...  What does pathetic mean?" Culumon blinked up innocently at Impmon.

      "You," Impmon snorted.  "Where've you been, anyway!?"

      "I'm not pathetic, I'm Culumon!" Culumon blinked.  "Culu...  Well I went looking for something to eat when I found a nut!  It was almost like a soccer ball!  Culucululu!  When I tried to score a goal with it that meanie squirrel started chasing me!  Culucululululu!"

      "... ..."  Impmon just shook his head and started walking away.

      "Culu?  Where're you going Wonder Impmon?"  Culumon hurried after Impmon, blinking curiously at him.

      "... Around," Impmon grunted, irritably.

      "Heh... heh... heh..."

      The sound of digging reached their ears, scratchy and dull.

      "Cululu?  What's that?" Culumon blinked.

      "I don't know..."  Impmon headed towards the sound, blinking.  Around the corner, behind some bushes, was ChibiBa.  ChibiBa dug furiously, his claws swiping at the ground as he disappeared almost entirely in to a gigantic hole.  A large pile of dirt rested beside the hole as the small Mega dug.

      "Culucululu?  Hey, what'cha doin'?" Culumon blinked as he peered into the hole at ChibiBa.  ChibiBa tensed and glanced up, then snorted and returned to digging.

      "Making a trap."

      "A trap?" Impmon blinked.  "For who?"

      "Takato."

      "Whyyyy?" Culumon blinked.

      "To kill him."

      "CULUCULULULU!" Culumon squealed as he flailed his arms.

      "Why would you want to kill goggle face!?" Impmon stared.

      "He's getting too close to Tsu."

      "Then tell him to take a step backwards!  Culuculululu," Culumon blinked.

      "It's not that simple," Impmon sighed, exasperated.

      "I'll kill him.  That's simple enough."

      "Whyyy?  Culululu?" Culumon whimpered as his ears retracted.

      "Because no one takes advantage of my Tsu and gets away with it."

      "... Okay, man, you've got problems," Impmon shook his head.

      "No, Takato does."

      "He does?" Culumon blinked innocently.

      "Yes," ChibiBa wiped the dirt from his claws.  "Especially after I fill this pit with barbed wire."

      "... You're insane," Impmon stared.  "You can't kill people!"

      "No, but goblins can."

      "CULUCULULULULU!  Goblin!?  Where!?" Culumon yelped as he looked around franticly and quickly hid behind Impmon.  Impmon glanced at Culumon, then sighed and shook his head.

      "I'm getting out of here...  People might think I'm responsible," Impmon grunted as he turned to walk away.

      "CULUCULULU!  Wait for me, Wonder Impmon!" Culumon squealed as he darted after Impmon quickly.

      "I wouldn't go that way," ChibiBa warned.

      "Why's that?" Impmon snorted as he stepped, then blinked as he heard an audible click.

      Impmon glanced down as a net snapped up, snagging him and Culumon at once.

      "CULULULULULULUUU!" Culumon squeaked as he flailed franticly.

      "H-HEY!  What is this!?" Impmon shrieked as they dangled over the air.  ChibiBa paused to look at them, blandly.

      "... Oh, that's going to hurt," he muttered.  Impmon blinked, then paled.

      "What is?" he squeaked.

      ChibiBa merely pointed as two boulders suddenly swung towards the net, suspended to the tree by rope.

      "CULUCULUCULU!" Culumon shrieked, his eyes widening to the size of saucers as he saw the boulders, and squirmed franticly.

      Impmon shrieked as the boulders slammed in to the net, one on either side in a smashing manner.  Culumon quivered as he stared, having managed to move far enough away from the middle to avoid them.

      Impmon wasn't as lucky, however.

      ChibiBa blinked and stared as the boulders slowly drifted back, leaving a very bruised and beaten Impmon.  Impmon collapsed in a heap, looking quite dazed.

      "S'allright?" ChibiBa asked, tilting his head.

      "S'okay...," Impmon whimpered.

***~***

      The Tamers weren't really concerned about the 'goblin scare' that terrified the rest of the camp; they knew what the goblin really was.  So, once boredom finally claimed them, the Tamers snuck out to explore the camp.  The experience was actually rather enjoyable, as the camp was quiet and undisturbed as children hid inside cabins.

      "Oi!"

      Kenta blinked and looked around, then shrugged and returned to looking at the Marine Angemon card he got from Tsuyosa.  Such was a mistake as seconds later, a pair of arms wrapped around his neck.

      Kenta gagged as Hirokazu suddenly grabbed him in a headlock and dragged him away from the others.

      "OOOOOI!" Hirokazu repeated.

      "Gah!" Kenta choked as he tried to get Hirokazu to loosen his grip.

      "What's that goofball up to now?" Ruki muttered as she leaned against a tree.

      "Guy stuff?" Juri shrugged.

      "Oooi!  Kenta!" Hirokazu repeated.  "You've got to help me!"

      "Gah?" Kenta coughed as he continued to struggle.

      Marine Angemon blinked up at Kenta and Hirokazu from his place inside Kenta's shirt pocket.  Normally he'd try and help his Tamer when he looked to be in trouble, but since Kenta tended to get roughhoused by Hirokazu, Marine Angemon took it all as just life as usual.

      "You've got to help me!" Hirokazu repeated.  "It's important!"

      "O-okay!  Okay!" Kenta managed to choke out.

      "Good!" Hirokazu beamed.

      "What are you up to now?" Ruki spat.

      "Noooothing," Hirokazu grinned.

      "I think it's something!  Yip!  Yip!" Juri's puppet 'barked'.

      "Definitely," Ruki snarled.

      "What's going on?" Jenrya asked.

      "Hey, why do you always suspect me?" Hirokazu muttered.  "It's not something bad!"

      Juri blinked and then made her puppet bark.  "Rawf!  Tsuyosa?"

      "How'd you guess?" Hirokazu stared, shocked, at Juri.

      "Just a hunch," Juri giggled and then made her puppet move again.  "Bow wow!"

      "..." Jenrya blinked slowly.

      "You're kidding, right?" Ruki crossed her arms.

      "You're just saying that because Tengoku bought us free pizza before," Ruki snapped.

      "Dude, anyone who buys us free pizza is damned cool," Hirokazu retorted.  "AND he let Kenta have a card!  FOR FREE!  That card is rare!  And he just gave it away!"

      "... Did you forget everything else he's done?" Ruki stared at Hirokazu in disbelief.

      "Eh, he probably had a good reason," Hirokazu shrugged.  "He had issues or something... maybe it had something to do with his dad."

      "He's repeatedly insulted Takato and Guilmon, AND had his digimon attack both them AND you and Guardromon!"

      "He's not doing it NOW, is he?" Hirokazu blinked.  "And he bought us pizza!"

      "... You just like him because he gave Kenta that card and might give one to you too," Ruki snapped.

      "Dude.  He gave us pizza and Kenta an expensive card... AND might give ME one."  Hirokazu's eyes glazed.  "Dude... he is godly."

      Ruki snorted and shook her head.

      "Can't argue with that logic." Jenrya chuckled.

      "He might even give me that really weird card I've never seen before!" Hirokazu continued, his voice a bare whisper.  "It was sooooo cool!  I never saw anything like it!"

      "What card is that?" Juri blinked.

      "It looked like this really cool castle with four pillars... and it was surrounded by these strands of code!  It must have been holographic, because it kept shimmering.  I couldn't read what it did, though... the writing was weird," Hirokazu replied.

      "I've never heard of that card," Jenrya blinked.

      "It sounds cool!" Juri chirped.  "I'd love to see it sometime."

      "Dude," Hirokazu agreed, sagely.

      Kenta gagged and rubbed his neck as he finally worked his way out of Hirokazu's chokehold.  "Gah," he muttered.

      Suddenly a scream pierced the air like a knife.

      "WHAT?!" Jenrya jumped to his feet.  "That sounded like..."

      Ruki whirled and darted towards the sound.

      "TAKATO!"

***~***

      "Culu!" Culumon giggled as he played in the water, blowing around soapsuds.

      Impmon sulked angrily, his cheek twitching as a pile of suds sat on his head.

      Sera giggled as she knelt next to the bathtub where the two digimon were bathing in.  After Impmon and Culumon had been liberated from ChibiBa's trap, Sera had used a card to take care of Impmon's wounds.  However, there was no card to take care of the dirt and blood that had clung to both his and Culumon's fur.  Thus Sera decided that it'd be best if the two digimon got a bath.

      The only bathing facilities in the camp were the public hot springs, which had too much of a risk of the digimon being seen to be considered, and the private bath in the main female councilor's cabin.  After a bit of talking with the big-busted councilor, Sera managed to get permission to bathe her two 'stuffed animals' while Bambi was having a meeting with the other councilors.

      Impmon wasn't thrilled of the idea, however.  Something about being bathed bothered him.

      "Yay!  Yay!  Bubbles are fun!  Culuculululu!" Culumon squealed as he blew bubbles everywhere.

      "Aw shove it," Impmon snapped.

      "Is something wrong, Impmon?" Sera blinked.

      "... No."

      "Well you don't seem to be enjoying your bath," Sera pointed out.

      "Bath time's fun!" Culumon agreed as he splashed some water at Impmon.

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "Hey, no splashing," Sera lightly scolded.

      "Cululu," Culumon responded and began blowing more bubbles.

      "... Eeeeggghh...," Impmon grumbled.

      "You know, Impmon, you're not going to get clean unless you start scrubbing yourself," Sera commented as she picked up the soap.

      "W-w-whuh?" Impmon stared.

      "The dirt's not going to come out on its own," Sera explained as she lathered up her hands.  "Here, I'll help."  She then reached out and started rubbing her soapy hands against Impmon's head, gently scrubbing his fur.

      Impmon's eyes widened as he started to blush.  "..."

      Culumon blinked as he looked at Impmon.  The small white and purple digimon looked between both Sera and Impmon for a moment before looking back at Impmon again.  "Culuuuu... Heeey," Culumon blinked.  "Are you going to try and swallow each others' faces like those people in the park?"

      "... ... ..."  Impmon paled drastically.

      "Huh?  What do you mean?" Sera blinked at Culumon as she lathered up Impmon's ears.

      "..."  Impmon coughed quietly.

      "Lots of people at the park try to swallow each other at the same time and their faces turn all red and sweaty before they do it.  Culuculululu," Culumon cheerfully said, feeling smart for knowing something someone else didn't.

      "... Shut up, moron," Impmon snapped as he slouched.

      "... Oh!  You mean kissing," Sera said after a moment, blinking again as her cheeks turned lightly pink at the thought.  "Why would you say that?"

      "Culuuu!  'Cause Impmon's face's all red and sweaty when he looks at you!" Culumon cheerfully pointed out.  He then blinked as he looked at Sera.  "Cululuuu!  Ooooh!  Your face is changing colors tooooo!  Culucululu!"

      Sera blinked, but said nothing as her blush deepened.

      Impmon snarled and lunged, dunking Culumon in to the water.  "I SAID CAN IT!"  Culumon squeaked and flailed, splashing water everywhere as he was dunked.

      Sera yelped and covered her face as soapy water was splashed in her direction.  "Hey!  No splashing!" she yelped.

      Impmon released Culumon and sulked angrily in his corner of the bathtub.

      Culumon surfaced from the water with a gasp, splashing water as he did so.  "CULU!  That was MEAN, Impmon!" he pouted.

      "So?" Impmon glared.

      "Cululu!  MEANIE!" Culumon puffed out his cheeks angrily.

      "Grrr," Impmon glowered.

      "Hey, calm down you two," Sera said soothingly.  "Just enjoy the bath and try not to drown each other, okay?"

      "Hmph," Impmon sulked.

      "Yeah!  Culu!" Culumon agreed.  He then resumed blowing bubbles, giggling merrily as he did so.

      Sera sighed and shook her head at Impmon's attitude.  She then reached out and resumed cleaning him.

      Impmon flushed, embarrassed, and glared at the water.  He refused to look at Sera or Culumon, trying to will them away.

      Culumon didn't seem to notice as he continued to blow bubbles and giggle.

      "Come on, cheer up, Impmon," Sera smiled at Impmon.  "This isn't so bad is it?"  She removed her hands from the purple digimon once she finished soaping up most of his head.  "And once you're done you'll feel better because you'll be all nice and clean."

      "..."  Impmon scowled darkly.

      Sera sighed and tried to not let Impmon's scowling faze her as she turned on the showerhead.  "Cover your eyes," she said before she began to rinse the soap off him.

      Impmon sputtered and covered his eyes, wincing as the soapy water trailed down his face.

      After the soap was gone, Impmon grumbled and wiped his eyes with his wet paws.  "... Are you in a bad mood because of that incident with the cards?" Sera asked as she turned off the showerhead.

      "... ..." Impmon glowered.

      "It was an accident," Sera frowned.  "I didn't know Culumon was looking at the regeneration card and put a different one where I put it down."

      "It was a pretty card!" Culumon added cheerfully.

      "... It had self destruct as a side effect," Impmon grunted.  "How can you mistake one card for the other?  They didn't even have the same picture!"

      "Well... I wasn't paying attention.  So sue me," Sera muttered as she blushed indignantly.  "I was paying more attention to how hurt you were."

      "So you hurt me more?" Impmon grumbled quietly as he slumped in to the tub.

      "..."  Sera looked down solemnly.  "I'm sorry..."

      "... S'okay."  Impmon blew bubbles.

      Silence reigned aside from Culumon's giggling and Impmon blowing bubbles, as Sera continued to look down, feeling bad about her earlier mistake.

      "Culuculuculu!" Culumon cheered as he swam over to Impmon and quickly scrambled up the other digimon's head before he could protest.  "Diving board!"

      "ACK!?" Impmon blinked.

      "CULU!" Culumon giggled before he took a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks cutely, and jumped off Impmon's head, diving into the water with a large splash.

      Impmon shrieked as the soapy water hit his face, causing him to recoil and wipe at his eyes furiously.

      Sera blinked and looked up just in time to see the miniature wave of bath water as it splashed in every direction.  She cried out in alarm as she instantly became soaked.

      Culumon surfaced from the water giggling insanely.  "WEE!  So much fun!  Culuculululu!" he giggled as he splashed about in the water.

      "I said no splashing!" Sera sputtered as she wiped the soapy water away from her eyes and face.

      "I'm going to kill you, you little-!" Impmon spat angrily.   However, he didn't finish as his eyes suddenly widened drastically.

      The sheer amount of water that had hit Sera ended up completely soaking her, and caused her clothes to cling to her body like a second skin.

      They had also become noticeably translucent.

      Impmon stared in shock, twitching, as his cheeks blushed violently.

      "Cululu!  Look!  Impmon's changing colors again!" Culumon giggled, gleefully.

      Sera blinked at Culumon and then glanced at Impmon.  "What is it, Impmon?" she blinked.  She then grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling of the wet clothes against her body.  She rolled up part of her shirt and started wringing out as much water as she possibly could from it.

      Such was a huge mistake.

      Seconds later, Impmon's eyes doubled in size.  He tilted his head back and shrieked as blood squirted from his nose.  His shriek ended with a gurgle as he passed out in to the tub water.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried in alarm as she quickly pulled Impmon out of the water before he drowned.

      Culumon blinked and tilted his head.

      "Culu, was it something I said?"

***~***

      "... DUDE... what HAPPENED?"

      Takato sighed as he looked down at the other Tamers.  He was currently dangling from a tree by a rope snare tied around his ankle.

      "... Dare I ask?" Ruki crossed her arms.

      "..." Takato sighed again.  "All I was doing was walking and suddenly I got caught in this trap!"

      "But what is a trap doing here?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "Y-you don't think there's a real goblin, do you?" Kenta whimpered, his glasses fogging.

      "Don't be silly," Juri soothed.  "Maybe it's just some old trap campers set up for merit badges or something."

      "Complete with boulders?" Ruki pointed.

      In the tree, tangled among the branches, were two large boulders suspended by rope. The rope itself was caught in the wood, preventing any harm or damage they might have originally intended to cause.

      "Who could have made this trap and why?" Jenrya wondered.  "Takato could have gotten seriously hurt!"

      "Hey guys...," Takato began.

      "You don't suppose someone really wants to hurt Takato?" Kenta squeaked.

      "I hope not," Juri frowned.

      "Hey guys," Takato repeated.

      "But who'd want to... hey...," Hirokazu paused, suddenly, and then stared.  "... Isn't that... ChibiBa?"

      A brief scuffle issued in the bushes, followed by the pitter-patter of feet.

      "..."  Ruki scowled.  "Looks like Tengoku hasn't changed after all."

      "But...," Hirokazu blinked.  "But it doesn't make sense...  He bought us PIZZA!"

      "That doesn't mean he's changed," Ruki snapped.  "He might have been grateful for being rescued, but it doesn't look like he's changed his opinion about Takato at all."

      "It can't be...," Juri muttered.

      "It does seem like it...," Jenrya frowned.

      "GUYS!"

      The Tamers brought their attention to Takato who was squirming slightly.

      "Could someone please get me down?!"

      "Oh, dude..." Hirokazu blinked.  "You're still up there?"


	22. Promises

Authors' Notes: Hmm...  What to say that's not yet been said...  Well, I guess I should restate the obvious first.  Tsuyosa, Sera, and any and all new characters, along with this story, belong to us.  Also, reviews are greatly welcomed and appreciated *hinthintnudgenudge*.  Oh yes!  I should tell you all that this chapter is one whole uncensored version.  That means no yaoi this chapter (sorry all you yaoi fans out there!)  Don't worry, we'll have more yaoi for you soon!  For now, enjoy the chapter!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**Chapter 17: Promises**

***~***

      "Tengoku!"

      Tsuyosa blinked and glanced up. He sat on a log bench near the lake, overlooking the clear water.  He glanced around for the owner of the voice, curiously.

      Ruki stomped over to Tsuyosa, looking angry and ready for a fight.  She came to a halt next to Tsuyosa and put her hands on her hips, glaring down at him angrily.

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly and stared up at her, his expression blank.

      "Why did you have ChibiBa try to kill Takato?!" Ruki demanded.

      Hirokazu panted as he darted after Ruki, then fumbled to a stop and gasped for air.  "Y-y-yeah?!"

      "... Huh?" Tsuyosa stared.  "... What are you talking about?"

      "Don't play dumb!" Ruki snapped.  "Takato got caught in one of YOUR digimon's traps!  He'd be in the hospital right now, or even DEAD, if those boulders didn't get caught in the trees!"

      "... W-what?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "I don't know what you're talking about!"

      Jenrya, along with Juri, Takato, and Kenta, ran over to Tsuyosa, Ruki, and Hirokazu, coming to a halt and looking quite out of breath.

      "You can cut the innocent act.  Hirokazu SAW ChibiBa there!"  Ruki pointed at Hirokazu for emphasis.

      "I don't know what you're talking about!" Tsuyosa stared.  "Why would ChibiBa do something like that!?"

      "Why don't you tell us?" Ruki hissed.

      "Dude, I saw him!" Hirokazu pointed out after he got his breath back.

      "There has to be some sort of mistake...," Tsuyosa muttered.  "ChibiBa wouldn't do that."

      "Well he did, and Takato almost DIED because of it," Ruki snorted.

      "... There has to be a mistake!" Tsuyosa repeated, more firmly.  "ChibiBa wouldn't do that."

      "Are you saying I'm lying?!" Ruki glowered angrily at Tsuyosa.

      "I'm saying I trust ChibiBa," Tsuyosa glared back.

      "Tsuyosa, maybe ChibiBa did it without letting you know," Jenrya said once he caught his breath.

      "But...," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "TSUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

      Tsuyosa yelped as ChibiBa lunged out of nowhere to land on his lap, clinging happily.

      "Speak of the devil...," Ruki muttered.

      "C-ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa glanced down at the tiny Mega.  "... Don't do that.  You scared me!"

      "I'm sorry, Tsuuuu!" ChibiBa snuggled.  "I didn't mean to."

      "ChibiBa, why did you set up those dangerous traps in the woods?" Juri asked carefully.

      "Traps?" ChibiBa repeated, eyes shimmering innocently.

      "Yeah, like the one that nearly killed Takato!" Ruki snapped, glaring at the diminutive Mega.  "Hirokazu saw you there before you snuck away!"

      "Oh, that one," ChibiBa waved a claw.  "It was for squirrels."

      "... Squirrels?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "Yes, squirrels are such evil little bastards," ChibiBa replied, sagely.

      "... Dude, awfully excessive for a squirrel," Hirokazu pointed out.

      "... You set up a trap with BOULDERS to crush squirrels!?" Ruki asked disbelievingly.

      "I wanted to kill those squirrels DEAD," ChibiBa replied.  "Otherwise, they'll come back and bite your toes off."

      "... Um...," Tsuyosa blinked slowly.  "... Okay... I didn't know you had such a vendetta against squirrels..."

      "Yes, such evil squirrels!" ChibiBa smiled.

      "Well, your 'squirrel trap' nearly killed Takato," Ruki snapped.

      "How unfortunate," ChibiBa sounded truly regretful.

      "I told you it was a mistake," Tsuyosa smiled.

      "Mistake my-!"

      "Ruki!  It probably IS a mistake," Juri said quickly, cutting off what Ruki was about to say.  "I mean we only saw ChibiBa sneaking away without attempting to help Takato or try to get him down from a trap he made with overly excessive force to kill squirrels with.  That's no reason to accuse him of wanting to kill Takato."

      ChibiBa smiled, sweetly.

      Ruki stared at Juri in utter disbelief.

      "... He tried to kill me before," Takato muttered, looking away from everyone.

      "... SEE!?" Ruki demanded as she pointed at Takato as she looked at Tsuyosa.  "ChibiBa DID try to kill Takato!  I bet he has a history of doing things like this too!"

      "ChibiBa wouldn't do that," Tsuyosa shook his head.  "He promised he wouldn't try to hurt anyone after he dropped those lockers on that kid a few years ago."

      "... And you don't think he'd try it again!?" Ruki asked incredulously.

      "Because he promised," Tsuyosa retorted.  "He promised he'd never do it again."

      ChibiBa smiled cutely.

      "Well, he broke his promise," Ruki snapped.

      "He wouldn't," Tsuyosa shook his head.  "He wouldn't break his promise to me."

      "Why not?!  We saw him there, he admitted to making the traps, he's apparently got a history of doing things like this, AND he attacked Takato!"  Ruki glanced at Takato, silently vowing to get him to tell her everything that had happened after they separated at the circus, before she looked back at Tsuyosa angrily.

      "Because he knows how much I value promises," Tsuyosa replied.  "He knows that I've had too many promises broken to ever accept him breaking one.  I'd never trust him again...  I'd sooner he kill me than break a promise to me."

      ChibiBa wasn't smiling anymore.  In fact, he looked particularly pale.

      "... And if he did it behind your back so you wouldn't find out?" Ruki glared at ChibiBa.

      "That would be even worse," Tsuyosa frowned.  "It'd mean that he not only broke a promise but lied to me as well.  It'd hurt... it'd feel like he suddenly just destroyed everything we ever had and spat on it.  I don't know what I'd do if he did that to me...  I think I'd wish I were dead."

      ChibiBa seemed to pale even more, his expression horrified.

      "But it's not an issue, as ChibiBa wouldn't do that to me!" Tsuyosa smiled, brightly.  "Right?"

      ChibiBa didn't reply at first, then swallowed and nodded.  "R-right..."

      Hirokazu blinked, then glanced at Ruki and Takato.

      "See?" Juri said.  "ChibiBa couldn't have done it, or he'd be willfully destroying Tsuyosa."

      ChibiBa looked ill.

      "What's wrong, ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "Maybe something he did didn't agree with him," Ruki smirked as she enjoyed watching ChibiBa squirm.

      "Aw, poor ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa hugged his Digimon.  "Maybe you should take a nap?"

      ChibiBa looked a tad more ill as he stuck out his tongue.

      "I'm... fine."

      Takato quietly let out a sigh of relief.  It seemed he didn't have to worry anymore about ChibiBa doing something to him because he felt he was hurting Tsuyosa.

      "Dude, something must've left a bad taste," Hirokazu smirked as well.

      "You didn't eat a squirrel, right?" Tsuyosa asked, innocent and curious.  "That might've been it."

      "N-no, I didn't eat a squirrel...," ChibiBa seemed to grow more ill by the second.

      "Maybe he should take down those squirrel traps before anyone gets hurt," Jenrya pointed out, feeling relieved that ChibiBa wouldn't come after Takato.

      "That's a good idea.  It'd be bad if another accident happened," Tsuyosa agreed. ChibiBa looked like he wanted to curl up and die.

      "Yeah.  It'd be awful if ChibiBa accidentally broke his promise by killing Takato with one of his 'squirrel traps'," Ruki smirked, figuratively twisting the knife.

      "..." ChibiBa slouched a bit, looking very ill and pale.

      "Yeah," Kenta readjusted his glasses.  "If those boulders hadn't got caught, it would've happened already."

      "Boulders?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "For squirrels?"

      "Y-yes!  For squirrels!  Squirrel jam!" ChibiBa squeaked, hurriedly.

      "... That's kinda gross, ChibiBa," Tsuyosa stuck out his tongue.

      "Giant boulders.  Ones that could squish a person's head like a melon," Ruki went on.

      Takato flinched slightly as the thought of what might have happened if those boulders didn't get caught in the trees when he was snared in that trap.

      "... Wow, that's very excessive," Tsuyosa's eyes widened.  "For a squirrel!?  Wouldn't you miss?"

      "More surface means less chance of missing!" ChibiBa squealed, quickly.

      "You know, it makes me wonder HOW you can snare a squirrel around their ankles with a large rope like that," Ruki tapped her chin, unable to keep the smirk off her face.  "Given the size of the squirrels, I'd think the rope wouldn't be able to hold them and they'd get away long before the boulders could hit."

      "... I think I'll go take care of those SQUIRREL TRAPS now!" ChibiBa leaped up.  "Can't have any more accidents!"

      "Huh?" Tsuyosa blinked, then stared as ChibiBa ran off as if his butt were on fire.  "... What was that about?"

      "I think ChibiBa had a promise to keep," Ruki smirked.

***~***

      Night settled into camp, bringing a quiet serenity with it that calmed many into a peaceful slumber despite the activities of the day.  One person in particular couldn't be lulled by the soothing darkness, however.

      Sera stared up towards the cabin ceiling silently as she lay in her bed dressed in her pajamas.  Thoughts churned endlessly through her mind, preventing her from falling asleep.

      Beside her, Impmon snored quietly as he snuggled against the pillow.

      Sera glanced at him momentarily before returning her gaze to the ceiling.

      Impmon was the very reason why she couldn't find any sleep that night.

      Sera closed her eyes with a sigh.  She couldn't help but wonder how Impmon felt about her.  It was hard for her to tell how her partner felt.  Initially she freaked him out, and she had to admit that was mostly her fault for nearly running him over and then glomping onto him when they had first met.

      She blushed faintly at the memory of how she had acted.  "I must've come across like a little kid," she thought with more than a little embarrassment.

      Sera opened her eyes and watched Impmon as he slept.  His chest rose and fell as he slept peacefully, oblivious to her scrutiny.

      Impmon was literally a dream come true for Sera.  Ever since she had gotten her first digimon playing card, which had been an Impmon card, she knew she wanted to meet him.  It had been her secret dream to become a chosen child with him by her side.

      The reality of being a partnered with Impmon had ended up being completely different than what Sera had always imagined it'd be.  But still she felt happy about it and wouldn't trade their experiences together for anything in the world.

      Because it was real.

      Sera couldn't help herself, and reached out to touch Impmon's cheek.  A small part of her needed to verify he was really there at her side and that she wasn't still dreaming.

      Impmon twitched, then sighed and remained asleep.  Sera let her hand linger there on his cheek, feeling his warmth against her bare skin.

      Impmon muttered something unable to be understood in his sleep, then curled up tightly against the pillow.

       Sera smiled and giggled quietly, taking care not to wake Impmon up.  "Even though we've known each other for such a short time...," she couldn't help but think.  "I feel..."  Her thoughts trailed off, as she couldn't form the words in her mind to properly convey how she felt about Impmon.

      Sera felt a strong connection to Impmon.  It felt like was more than just the link between Tamer and partner; it was something deeper than that.  She had never felt so strongly about anyone before, and the fact that it had happened so quickly almost frightened her.

      "... I think I've felt this way.... ever since I first met you..."

      Sera lightly ran her hand along Impmon's cheek before she removed it completely with a sigh.  "But..."

      With a sigh she rolled over to face away from Impmon and stared at the cabin wall.  "... How does he feel... about me...?"

      At the beginning it seemed as if Impmon merely thought of Sera as a pest and seemed distinctly uncomfortable about her as his Tamer.  She couldn't blame him considering how Ai and Makoto seemed to be his first partners.

      Sera couldn't really understand how that had happened.

      She knew that she got her D-Arc a couple years ago.  At first she waved it off as being a present from one of her parents, and ignored the dream that had come with it, but after realizing its significance, she knew the dream had to be real.

      When Sera had taken her cousins home after the entire circus incident while everyone else was eating pizza, she had asked them why they thought they were Impmon's Tamers, and they had told her that he just appeared one day looking for them.

      That thought made Sera feel doubt gnaw at her.  "If Impmon wanted Ai and Makoto to be his Tamers... then why did I get the D-Arc in the first place?"  She closed her eyes as she gripped the pillow tightly.  "... Is it really my place to claim him as my partner... just because the D-Arc's mine... and because I want him...?"

      She frowned as she remembered what had happened during the circus.  "... Impmon obviously cares for them..."  She opened her eyes again, staring out at nothing.  "... But they hurt him..."  She turned her faraway gaze to the ceiling as she rolled over slightly.  "... I won't let them hurt him again..."

      Sera closed her eyes again as she remembered what else happened at the circus, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.  "... Impmon never really answered my question...  He said I was helpful... but never said how he felt about me..."  She shifted again, opening her eyes to gaze upon Impmon once more.

      Impmon drooled a little in his sleep.

      Sera couldn't help but giggle quietly and used part of the blanket to wipe the drool away.

      Memories of the bus ride back to camp and the events of the previous day flittered through her mind.  "..."  Sera couldn't help but think about the mixed signals she had been getting from Impmon.  "... Impmon... do you like me or don't you...?" she asked aloud unthinkingly.

      "Snrmgrll...," was the response.

      Sera blinked and then shook her head slightly, realizing that the middle of the night wasn't the time to ask questions like that.  Especially when Impmon was still asleep.

      "Pfrrthh...," Impmon stuck out his tongue, then rolled over on to his back.

      "I wonder what you're dreaming of...," Sera thought as she watched Impmon sleep.

      Impmon didn't seem up to telling her as a snot bubble appeared in his nose.

      Sera blinked and couldn't help but giggle softly again.

      Suddenly, the bubble popped and Impmon wiped at his nose, muttering absently, before he relaxed once more.

      Sera blinked again and silently watched Impmon, wondering if he was waking up or not.

      Impmon sighed quietly, still fast asleep.

      Sera couldn't help but think about how cute Impmon was as he slept.  Without thinking much of it, she moved closer to him.

      Regardless of whether he liked her or not, Sera knew one thing; she wanted to protect Impmon.  It was a reversal from the normal chosen/digimon partner relationship, but then again there didn't seem to be any real sort of definition to that relationship anyway.

      "... I care for you, Impmon...," Sera whispered as she leaned in closer to her partner.  "... I'll try my best to be a good Tamer for you... so you'll never get hurt again..."

      With that she lightly kissed Impmon on the cheek.

      Impmon twitched slightly at the contact, then uttered a tiny 'mwerf' and curled up against the pillow again.

      Sera sighed and smiled before she lay down next to Impmon and closed her eyes.  Maybe now she could get some sleep after working things through in her mind.

***~***

      "Is that everything?"

      "Piiiiii!"

      "Hey!  Where are my socks!?"

      "No one'd touch your dirty socks, 'Wonder Kazu'."

      "They're under your bed."

      ChibiBa sat on Tsuyosa's bed, watching him as he packed up his backpack and adjusted his uniform once more.

      "Urgh, I hate this stuffy thing..." Tsuyosa muttered, darkly.

      "I think it makes you look charming!" ChibiBa offered, helpfully.

      "... You're just saying that." Tsuyosa scowled.

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa and ChibiBa as he tried to stuff everything into his backpack.  "No, he's right, Tsuyosa," Takato commented.

      Tsuyosa blinked, and then blushed lightly.  He zipped up his backpack.  "Thank you...," he muttered.

      ChibiBa glared at Takato, darkly.

      "You're welcome," Takato smiled, either not noticing ChibiBa's glare or ignoring it.

      ChibiBa seemed highly irritated by being ignored and stuck his tongue out at Takato.

      "Are you guys STILL packing?" Ruki asked as she walked in from the girls' side with Juri.  Both girls carried fully packed backpacks on their backs.

      Hirokazu shoved his socks in his bag, and then grinned slightly.  "All done!"

      Jenrya zipped up his backpack before slipping it onto his shoulders.  "I'm done," he commented.

      Tsuyosa picked up his backpack and held it to his chest as ChibiBa leapt on to his shoulder, still glaring at Takato.  "How am I supposed to fit you on the bus, ChibiBa?"

      Kenta grimaced as his stuff didn't seem to want to fit properly into his backpack.  Idly he wondered how his mom managed to get it all in there when she packed it for him.  "Almost...," he grunted.

      "We're all ready, yip!" Juri held her puppet up.

      Marine Angemon snuggled his card as he sat hidden in Kenta's pocket, having shrunk himself enough to fit.

      "Yup," Takato smiled as he finished packing.  "So let's get going before all the good seats are gone."

      "... Hey?  Do you hear something?" Hirokazu looked up, suddenly.

      Everyone went silent instantly as they all paused to listen for whatever Hirokazu had heard.  The sound was quiet at first, but started to increase in volume to a dull, mind numbing hum.

      "... That sounds like a helicopter!" Jenrya gasped.

      "A helicopter?  Here?" Hirokazu blinked.  "What the?"

      "Let's go check it out," Takato said as he dashed out of the cabin.

       Hirokazu and Kenta nodded, darting for the doorway.  Juri blinked at Ruki, then made to follow.  Ruki paused, then muttered and walked after the others.  Jenrya frowned slightly as he followed after the others, hoping that a helicopter being there didn't mean anything bad.

      However, Tsuyosa did not try to follow.  Instead, he squeaked and scrambled under his bed to hide.

      ChibiBa blinked, having been dragged with Tsuyosa under the bed, and stared out.  "... Well!"

      As the Tamers stepped outside, a large black helicopter slowly descended from the sky. Its tinted windows glinted, reflecting the sunlight, as its blades spun about violently. The words 'Digital Max' rested on the side, written in bold red letters.  Kids from all about camp gathered outside to watch the helicopter as it came down.

      "Dude!" Hirokazu breathed as the helicopter landing, then blades slowly spinning to a stop.

      "You said it," Kenta breathed as he stared at the helicopter.

      "Isn't that...?" Jenrya blinked, then glanced at Takato and Ruki.  "... Isn't Digital Max where...?"

      "... That's the company where Tsuyosa's dad works!" Takato gasped as he looked back at Jenrya.

      As they spoke, the side door to the helicopter snapped open and a tall man wearing a dark gray business suit stepped out.  He had chocolate brown hair, scruffy and wild, with gray blue eyes and a boyishly handsome face.

      "... That has to be Tengoku's father," Ruki grunted as she instantly noticed the similarities between the man and Tsuyosa.

      The man walked away from the helicopter, glancing around as he adjusted his suit.

      "He looks like he's looking for something!" Hirokazu blinked. "Maybe he's looking for Tsuyosa?"

      It was then that a familiar buxom councilor strode into view, heading towards the helicopter.  "Helloooooooooo there!" she called, waving her arms franticly towards the man next to the helicopter.

      The man paused to look at Bambi, blinking slowly.

      Then something truly amazing happened.  He didn't react to her giant breasts.

      "Who are you and why'd you land your helicopter in the middle of our camp?" Bambi blinked, bouncing in place slightly and causing her chest to jiggle like gelatin.

      Kenta's glasses instantly fogged up as Hirokazu's eyes glazed over.  Jenrya and Takato blushed as they quickly looked away from the sight of the shameless attractive councilor.

      "... I don't believe it!" Juri gasped.  She turned to stare at Ruki. "A man who doesn't react to her giant, fake breasts!  A true gentleman!"

      "... I'm shocked," Ruki blinked.

      "I am Kigaru Tengoku," the man replied.  "And I want my son."

      "Oh!  Well he should be in that cabin over there," Bambi pointed towards the Tamers and their cabin, her breasts jiggling drastically at her motion.  Many of the kids who were watching the sight, fainted from massive nosebleeds.

      "You didn't lose him again?" Mr. Tengoku arched an eyebrow, eying the woman disapprovingly.

      "Oh!  No!  Of course not!" Bambi fretted.  "No one's been allowed to leave their cabins all yesterday because of the goblin scare, so he should be in there!"

      "... Goblin?" Mr. Tengoku eyed Bambi again, then shook his head and walked towards the cabin directed.

      "Dude!" Hirokazu paled.  "DUDE!!!  He's coming here!"

      "... I'll go get Tsuyosa!" Takato suddenly announced.  "He'll want to see his dad."  With that he turned and darted into the cabin.

      Tsuyosa sat on his bed shakily, holding ChibiBa in his lap.  He looked up sharply when Takato entered the cabin, then glanced out the window warily.

      "Was it... my dad?" he muttered.

      "Yeah," Takato nodded.  "He's here looking for you."

      "... Why?" Tsuyosa stared at Takato.  "Why is he here...?  Why isn't he at work?  Did I do something?"

      "I think he's worried about you because you disappeared from camp the other day," Takato pointed out.

      "... But he's never cared before..." Tsuyosa glanced down at the floor. "I'd think he'd be too busy at the company to notice anything that happens to me."

      Takato walked over to the bed and sat down next to Tsuyosa.  "I think you might be underestimating how much your dad cares about you."

      "..."  Tsuyosa looked at Takato.  "... Maybe..."

      "Give him a chance, Tsuyosa."  Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.  "I think he might surprise you."

      "... I've given up expecting anything from him...," Tsuyosa shook his head.  "... That way I can't be disappointed..."

      "..."  Takato sighed.  "... Maybe you and your dad should have a talk about this."

      "... I can't..."  Tsuyosa held ChibiBa close.  "He might think... I'm ungrateful or spoiled or something..."

      "Why would he think that?" Takato blinked.

      "..."  Tsuyosa held ChibiBa even closer, causing him to squeak.  "... I called my grandmother once... on my mom's side.  I didn't tell dad I found her number and so I called her... and I tried to see if she could give me the number to call my mom... and...  And she called me selfish and spoiled... and that... and that all I wanted was to make things difficult and...  And that I should be grateful I still even had my dad..."

      "..."  Takato was stunned at Tsuyosa's grandmother's coldness towards the poor boy.  He couldn't think of anything to say as he was too taken back by the cruelty.

      Suddenly, the door slammed open.

      Tsuyosa jumped, loosening his grip enough for ChibiBa to take a flying leap under the bed.  Takato blinked, snapping out of his stupor, and turned to look towards the doorway.

      "Tsu!"  Mr. Tengoku stood in the doorway, then strode towards the two boys on the bed.  Tsuyosa stared, almost as if in shock, as his father leaned over and pulled him in to an engulfing hug.

      "... Dad...?" Tsuyosa blinked slowly as his father hugged him tightly, almost unsure if it was really happening.

      Takato smiled at Tsuyosa and his dad, and quietly stood up, ready to walk out and leave father and son alone.

      "Are you all right?!" Mr. Tengoku leaned back to look at Tsuyosa, examining his face carefully.  "It must have been terrible..."

      "Dad... I..." Tsuyosa muttered, helplessly.

      "Unbelievable... what kind of professional loses a child!?" Mr. Tengoku hissed angrily, his eyes narrowed.  "What kind of establishment are they trying to run!?"

      "Dad... I..." Tsuyosa glanced over his shoulder. "Takato..."

      "... Hm?" Mr. Tengoku blinked at Tsuyosa, then glanced at the other boy.  "Takato?"

      Takato blinked as he had nearly made it to the door, and looked back at both Tengoku men.  "Yes?" he blinked.

      "He... found me..." Tsuyosa muttered, shyly.  "He helped me get back..."

      Mr. Tengoku glanced at his son, then stood up and smiled brightly at Takato.  "Well then, I owe my son's safety to you." he said as he hooked one arm around Tsuyosa to pull him close.  Tsuyosa paused, then turned to bury his face in to his father's side.

      "Uh..." Takato blushed as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.  "It was nothing, really," he muttered, embarrassed.

      "I'd think it's a very important nothing," Mr. Tengoku chuckled, humorously. Tsuyosa giggled slightly, mixed with what sounded suspiciously like a sniffle.

      Takato blushed even deeper and laughed a little, nervously, with Mr. Tengoku.

      "... Say..." Mr. Tengoku's eyes lit up, suddenly. "Aren't you... the son of the couple that run the bakery?"

      "Uh, yeah," Takato blinked.  "Why do you ask?  Do you know my parents?"

      "I knew you looked familiar," Mr. Tengoku smiled. "I visit your bakery every day for lunch."

      "Dad likes pastries," Tsuyosa muttered through his father's suit.

      "Oh!" Takato blinked as a small nagging feeling he had suddenly was figured out.  "Now I know where I've seen you before!"

      "... Well then," Mr. Tengoku smiled as he stroked Tsuyosa's head, comfortingly. "I know how to repay you, then, for helping my son."

      "Huh?" Takato blinked.

      "Ever been in a helicopter?" Mr. Tengoku beamed.

      Takato blinked.

***~***

      "... DUDE!" Hirokazu gasped.  "Look!  Look!  The people below us all look like ants!"

      "I'd rather not...," Kenta gulped, looking slightly green.

      "Don't fall out," Ruki warned, smiling slightly.

      "This is great!" Juri squealed as she marveled at the scenery outside the helicopter window.  She glanced at Ruki and then at Hirokazu before she held up her puppet.  "Yeah!  Be careful!  Arf!  Wonder Kazu pancake! Woof!"

      Kenta looked even greener at the thought, groaning loudly.

      Jenrya chuckled lightly, then glanced at Tsuyosa and his dad. Tsuyosa clung to his dad like a drowning man to a life preserver; his arms tightly around his dad's waist and his face nestled in the white work shirt. Tsuyosa's dad smiled at him, gently stroking his hair as he looked at the other children.

      "Thanks again for taking all of us for a ride in your helicopter, Mr. Tengoku," Takato smiled happily.

      "Of course," Mr. Tengoku replied, beaming. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves."

      ChibiBa growled quietly as he slumped against Tsuyosa's backpack, in the far back out of sight.  Impmon sat next to him, tail twitching and looking equally aggravated.

      "You'd think by now we wouldn't have to hide all the time," he grunted, quietly.  ChibiBa nodded, irritably.

      "This is WAAAAY better than taking the bus," Sera said happily as she marveled out the helicopter window from her seat.  She smiled at Takato and Mr. Tengoku gratefully.  "Thanks for inviting me too."

      "Of course, Sera dear," Mr. Tengoku grinned at her, cheerfully.  It was hard to imagine him doing anything other than smiling; the simple expression seemed so at home on his boyish face.

      Sera smiled back brightly before returning her gaze to the window.  Even though the Tamers hadn't known her for very long, she did seem to be close to Impmon and had come along with the rest of them to rescue Tsuyosa.  That was why she had gotten invited onto the helicopter ride in the first place.

      "DUDE!" Hirokazu cried again as he pointed.  "I can see the school from here!"

      "Hey, I think I see Miss Asanuma!" Juri said as she pointed at one of the dots of people.

      "How can you tell?" Hirokazu blinked.  "They all look the same to me."

      "Simple," Juri smiled.  She held up her puppet again.  "She's the one that looks like she's yelling, woof, woof!"

      "Heh, wonder what she's yelling about?" Hirokazu smirked.

      "Probably your last homework assignment," Ruki quipped.

      Hirokazu sweat-dropped.

      "Hey buddy," Mr. Tengoku glanced down at his son, tenderly.  "Was it really that bad?"

      "No...," Tsuyosa muttered quietly.  "... I just missed you."

      "...," Mr. Tengoku blinked, then smiled and wrapped his arm around Tsuyosa in a hug.  "I missed you too, tiger.  It's not the same without you there."

      "Did you get lost in the bathroom again?" Tsuyosa giggled, teasingly, as he looked up from his dad's side.

      "It's such a big bathroom!" Mr. Tengoku grinned, feigning innocence.  "So many doors!"

      Takato smiled to himself as he watched Tsuyosa and his father out of the corner of his eye.  He had a feeling things were going to work out just fine between the two of them.

      Suddenly, a high-pitched beep issued from Mr. Tengoku's pocket.

      Mr. Tengoku paused, then blinked and pulled out a cell phone.  He ruffled Tsuyosa's head as he answered it, tilting his head.  "Tengoku.  What do you want?" he asked, sternly.  "I'm with my son."

      Tsuyosa blinked as his dad paused, then growled.

      "WHAT?!  A robbery!?  WHERE?!  ...  At the clothing store!?" he growled.  "What did they take?"

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly as he leaned closer, as if trying to hear.  The other occupants of the helicopter turned to pay attention to Mr. Tengoku because of his raised voice.

      Suddenly, Mr. Tengoku face-faulted.

      "... Women's underwear?" he repeated, slowly.  "You're telling me that a bunch of men in costumes broke in to the clothing store and stole all the women's underwear?"

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly as his eyes widened, dumbfounded.

      "WHAT would a bunch of men in costumes want with-," Mr. Tengoku paused, then his cheek twitched.  "... Excuse me?  ...  They... put it on over their costumes?  ... A bunch of men in costumes robbed the store of all the women's underwear and ran off wearing it?  ... ...  You're not drunk, are you?"

      Most everyone sweat-dropped.

      ChibiBa paused to look at Impmon.  Impmon returned the look.  They stared, then sighed and shook their heads.

      "Humans are weird."

      "Very."


	23. School Daze

Authors' Notes: We're baaaaaaaack!  Did ya miss us?  ^_^  Welp, after waiting for an insanely long time for FF.net to sort itself, it SEEMS safe enough to post the next chapter of Dreaming to Reality.  YAY!  Sadly it seems that because of all the screw-ups FF.net had it made it so that our last chapter got no reviews at all.  That makes us really sad... ;_;  Please make us happy again and review muchly on this chapter, okay?

As nearly always the chapter has been broken into uncut and yaoi-free versions.  If you were looking for the yaoi-free, then you better toddle on over to the other version because this is the uncut version of chapter 18.  With that said, enjoy our return and please review!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 18: School Daze_**

**_*~*_**

      "Welcome home, Impmon!"

      "... So this is yer pad?" Impmon blinked as he glanced about, slightly awed.

      The apartment in which Sera lived was large and quite lavish, indicating that her parents had to have quite a sizable income in order to afford it.  It was large, even larger than most houses in Tokyo, and furnished with fine, top of the line decor.  Everything seemed to be spick and span without any speck of dirt in sight, hinting at possible maid services that came in to clean the place.

      Impmon wiggled his feet as he looked around.

      "Yep, it's home" Sera smiled brightly, and hugged Impmon as she held him in her arms, as she stood in the entryway.  "And it's your home now too."

      "This place must be LOADED with food!" Impmon muttered, then scowled slightly and crossed his arms.  "... And good thing, too!  I'm starving!  I didn't get to eat much pizza at all!"

      Impmon looked, accusingly, at Sera.

      Sera sighed and rolled her eyes.  "Well I couldn't very well sneak an entire pizza at a time to where you were hiding," she pointed out.  "It'd look suspicious, and Tsuyosa's dad would've found out and freaked out."

      "Why do I have to hide all the time!?" Impmon huffed and flailed his arms, angrily.  "I helped save the world!  I shouldn't have to hide or pretend I'm a doll!"

      Sera hummed thoughtfully as she slipped off her boots, maneuvering carefully as she did so, so she wouldn't drop Impmon or have to set him down.  "I guess you have a point there," she muttered.  "But I think normal people would still freak out over digimon, regardless."

      Sera frowned as she suddenly remembered news reports she saw of when the Tamers and Beelzebumon fought the D-Reaper; particularly of when Beelzebumon had gotten stabbed and was apparently deleted.  Unconsciously she held Impmon a little closer because of those thoughts.

      Impmon blinked, then blushed lightly as he became aware of how close they were.  "... I'm hungry!" he said quickly, wiping at his cheeks as if to erase the blush.

      "Oh, well, let me show you to the kitchen," Sera smiled, banishing the dark thoughts away.  Still holding Impmon close, she walked through the apartment until she ended up in a sizable kitchen.

      "FOOD!" Impmon cheered.  "C'mon!  Chow time!"

      Sera giggled and set Impmon down.  "I'm full, but you can go ahead and help yourself to anything you like," she said cheerfully.  "If you don't find anything you want, I can try to make you something or order take-out."

      "WHOOHOO!" Impmon ran to the fridge and threw open the door.  He stood there in awe, staring at the food, before he literally leapt in to the fridge.

      "..."  Sera blinked and then giggled.  "I guess the anime didn't exaggerate a digimon's appetite."

      Impmon peered out, half an apple in his mouth, and beamed.  "Take-out too!" he called, then dove back in.

      Sera blinked, twice, and just shook her head, a smile on her face.  "I take it a full fridge and pantry aren't enough?" she asked teasingly.

      Impmon paused and peered back out.  "... Pantry?" he repeated, eyes wide.

      Sera smiled and walked over to a door, which she opened to reveal a large and fully stocked pantry.  "Is this enough food do you think?" she smiled cutely as she tilted her head.

      Impmon turned to stare at the pantry as his eyes shimmered.

      "... I'm in HEAVEN!"

**_*~*_**

      "I'm hoooome!"

      Takato looked around as he slipped his shoes off in the doorway, waiting for his parents to respond and greet him.

      "OH!  Takato!  You're home?" Takato's mom peered in.  "Welcome home!  Did you have fun?"

      "Yeah, mom!" Takato smiled.  "It was great!"

      "Good!" Takato's mom smiled, though she seemed slightly nervous about something.

      Takato blinked as he noticed his mom's nervousness.  He then noticed that his dad didn't seem to be around, looking about as he slipped on his house slippers and walked over to his mother.  "Hey, where's dad?" he asked, wondering what was going on.

      "... Upstairs...," Takato's mother said absently as she made dough.  "... Feeding Guilmon."

      "Huh?  Guilmon's here?" Takato blinked.  Even after the entire D-Reaper incident, Takato's parents tended to insist that Guilmon stay at his shrine in the park, if for no other reason than if he stayed at Takato's house, Guilmon would eat all their bread.

      "He was... helping your dad this morning," Takato's mom muttered, evasively.

      "Helping with what?" Takato asked, feeling apprehension grow within him at his mother's unusual behavior.

      "Your father had a wonderful idea for a recipe."

      That was when Takato noticed the pungent odor of tuna fish and peppers.

      "... Tuna and peppers?!" Takato gagged as he grimaced at the smell.

      "I wouldn't eat it," Takato's mom continued, calmly, as she kneaded the dough.  "So your dad had to find other volunteers."

      "..."  Takato stared at his mother for a moment before he instantly turned and bolted up the stairs.  "GUILMON!"

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa leaned against his dad, vaguely aware of the flashing lights that belonged to the television as he and his father sat on the couch in the dark.  They had spent the entire day together, despite the bizarre robbery, and Tsuyosa was extremely thankful for that.

      He silently promised never to think his dad didn't love him ever again, even if he was extremely busy at work.

      Tsuyosa felt his father shift slightly and looked up, blurry eyed, to see his father looking down at him.

      "You look tired, tiger," Mr. Tengoku grinned, lopsidedly.  Tsuyosa smiled back, sleepily, and nuzzled against his father's side.  ChibiBa sat behind the couch, twitching slightly but otherwise still.

      Mr. Tengoku rubbed his son's side, comfortingly, then shifted a bit to get more comfortable on the couch.

      "This looks like as good place to sleep as any..."

      Tsuyosa giggled in response as his eyes started to drift close.  He jumped slightly when he felt a pressure against the small of his back, then relaxed as he realized it was ChibiBa.  ChibiBa snuggled up against Tsuyosa's back, quietly.  Tsuyosa glanced at his father, warily, then sighed when he realized his father was asleep.

      Tsuyosa snuggled to get comfortable, then sighed and stared at the television as his eyes started to droop and his thoughts wandered.

      Takato.

      Tsuyosa's eyes snapped open as his thoughts drifted to the other boy.  He went to camp thinking he hated the boy only to return home having been kissed twice by him.

      Tsuyosa blushed lightly at the memory.  He could still vividly remember all three times he felt Takato's lips against his own, even though he himself had initiated one kiss himself.  He could remember each movement or breath they took while so close together, causing his body to grow warm.  The mere memory made his stomach clench slightly and images flood his mind.

      Tsuyosa shivered slightly, then paused as he felt ChibiBa snuggle closer.  He smiled softly and closed his eyes, willing himself to go to sleep.  He didn't know how to think about what happened between him and Takato; it was all so very confusing.  His entire world proved to be so fragile as Takato broke and rearranged it so easily.  He wasn't sure if such changes were a bad thing, either.

      As Tsuyosa slowly drifted to sleep, he wondered if Takato was thinking about him.

**_*~*_**

      "... Does this make me look fat?"

      "Is red really my color?"

      "Ow... is it supposed to ride this much!?"

      "Silk or cotton?"

      "Think this is a good look for me?"

      "Hmm...  Should I go for the edible ones?"

      "Would lingerie or normal work better for me?"

      "Oh no, no.  That's for winters.  You're obviously a spring!"

      "Oooh!  They've got strapless!"

      An Ogremon paused, then hefted up a bra and held it over his chest, testing it against his figure.  "Do you think they have this in a larger size?"

      "Eeee!" a War Monzaemon muttered as he tried to squirm his way in to a lady's night slip.  "They just don't ever seem to have anything in MY size!"

      A Lady Devimon sighed and shook her head as she surveyed the hordes of viral digimon that were in the process of selecting underwear for themselves or piling it into large sacks.  "Let's see some hustle, ladies," she drawled, accenting the last word, as she was the only female digimon present in the lingerie store.  "The master wants you all looking pretty before we head back."  She tapped a pen to the clipboard she held.  "And let's see some hustle on the looting over there."  She gestured the pen at the digimon stuffing underwear into sacks.

      "Ohhh... look!"  A Numemon oozed over, wiggling its 'hips' to show off a pair of thong underwear.  "This is SO me."

      "..."  Lady Devimon merely grunted in response as she made a couple notes on her checklist.

      "OH!!!" a Dark Tyrannomon gasped and pointed, shakily, at a rack.  "LOOK!  LOOK!  It's one of those kinky dominatrix outfits!  It's PERFECT!"

      Lady Devimon sighed, sweat-dropping, as she held her head.  She could have been a servant to a dark lord with an army that lived to destroy and kill, but no, she had to join a group of cross dressers.

      With their boss being the queen of them.

      Lady Devimon sighed again and shook her head before she went back to work.

      At least the pay was good.

**_*~*_**

      Dawn crept into Shinjuku silently, casting a gentle light over all its inhabitants.

      Warm and comfortable, Impmon snuggled under the blankets and sighed as he slumbered.  Sera slept with her arms around him, gently cuddling him as they slept together in her bed.

      Unfortunately the sudden sound of an alarm clock letting off an annoying, high-pitched beeping shattered the serenity of the morning like glass.

      Impmon jumped with a squeal, then looked around frantically.

      "What-what-WHAT?!" he gasped.

      Sera grunted in irritation, her eyes fluttering slightly as she was forced into a semi-awake state.  "Five more minutes...," she half muttered, half whined.

      "What the hell was that!?" Impmon stared at the alarm clock.

      Sera moaned and opened one eye at Impmon as she became more coherent.  "My alarm clock," she muttered.  "Could you hit the large button on top of it, please?  That's the snooze button."

      Impmon leaned over and pressed the button, testing it to see if it'd actually work.  He sighed with relief as the beep silenced, then scowled.  "What was that about?" he muttered as he snuggled back under the covers.

      "It's supposed to make noise and wake me up when I need to get up and ready for school," Sera sighed, debating whether to actually get up or wait until the alarm clock went off again.

      "... School?" Impmon looked at Sera, horrified.

      "Yeah," Sera covered her mouth to stifle a yawn.  "I go to high school."

      "... Go to school... as in LEAVE?"

      "Yeah, why?"  Sera blinked, still too tired to figure out where Impmon was going with his inquiry.

      "... You can't leave!"  Impmon's jaw dropped.  "I'll be bored!"

      Sera blinked slowly at that.  "Oh.  Well, how about you watch TV while I'm gone?"

      Impmon pouted.

      Sera blinked again, feeling a twinge of guilt at Impmon's pouting.  "... What about just spending today looking around the apartment and getting a feel for it?" she offered.

      Impmon stuck his lower lip out as he pouted even more, ears drooping.

      Sera grimaced, feeling that twinge become a pit in her stomach.  "...  ... You can order take-out while I'm gone?"

      Impmon seemed to debate, then huffed and returned to pouting unhappily.

      "It's too EARLY for school!"

      "I know what you mean," Sera sighed.  "But they're sadists, so it starts at 7:30.  Which means I've got to get there before the late bell or I'll get in trouble."

      "You can't just stay home?" Impmon sulked.

      "Not without getting into trouble," Sera sighed as she sat up and brushed back some stray hairs that had fallen in front of her face.

      "So?" Impmon shrugged.  "Besides, it's been past ten minutes.  You'll be late anyway!"

      Sera blinked and looked at the alarm clock just in time for the snooze button being pushed to have worn off, which caused it to resume its insane beeping.

      "Aw, crap!"

      "ACK!" Impmon covered his ears.

      Instantly Sera tore out of bed and ran over to her closet, ignoring her alarm.  Without thought of Impmon's prescience, she quickly undressed so she could change.

      Impmon growled and turned off the alarm, muttering darkly.  He glanced up just in time to see Sera in the process of changing.  His eyes widened and, with a squeak, he fell out of the bed on to the floor.

      Sera didn't notice in her haste as she tossed her discarded clothes into the hamper once she had taken everything off.  She then quickly started getting dressed into her uniform, which hung outside her closet for convenience.

      Impmon twitched on the floor, eyes glazed and unable to speak.

      Sera put on her earrings once she finished getting into her uniform and smoothing it out.  She then noticed Impmon on the floor as she grabbed her hairbrush.  "Impmon?" she blinked as she quickly ran the brush through her hair.  "Why're you on the floor?"

      "Haaaaah...," came the dazed reply.

      "Did you fall out of bed when you turned off the alarm?" Sera blinked, setting her hairbrush down on her dresser before she walked over to Impmon.

      "Uh... yeah..."  Impmon didn't dare mention the true reason.

      Sera kneeled down next to Impmon and helped him stand up.  "You've got to be more careful," she smiled.

      "... Ahuh...," Impmon boggled, dazed.

      Sera lingered for a moment, smiling at Impmon and thinking how cute he was, before she stood back up.  She went over to her dresser and resumed brushing her hair quickly, trying to get out all the tangles quickly and without too much pain.  "Maybe you should go back to bed, Impmon," she commented as she glanced back at him in-between brushing.  "You look out of it."

      "... Huuuh..."

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed heavily as he stared blandly at Miss Asanuma giving a math lesson.  Or was it science?

      Takato wasn't really paying attention, so he didn't know or really care.

      Going back to school and getting back into the same monotonous routine after an adventure was insanely boring.  Despite knowing that he had to go to school so he could function in the real world when he became an adult, it didn't make going any easier.

      He glanced over at Juri, Hirokazu, and Kenta where they sat in their seats.  They seemed as bored as Takato was.  Even more so in Hirokazu's case as he had fallen asleep behind his English book, which had been propped open as an impromptu barrier, as if it would keep Miss Asanuma from noticing him.  However, she seemed surprisingly lenient that day.  Perhaps it was because they did, in fact, just come back from the fieldtrip.

      Takato sighed and turned his gaze out the window.  He'd rather be outside on a warm and sunny day like today.  It'd be perfect for playing with Guilmon in, if he wasn't sick with an upset stomach from all the baking experiments Takato's dad had him ingest that is.

      Absently Takato started doodling in his notebook as his thoughts wandered.  He thought about the circus and the entire battle that had taken place there, grimacing slightly.  "I hope those digimon are gone for good," he hoped silently.

      The entire circus incident got surprisingly little coverage.  It didn't seem as if anyone even noticed it had happened.  Even with the children disappearing.

      Takato absently wondered if that Black Tailmon had used her Cat's Eye Hypnotist attack on the adults as well as the children.  It was the only thing that would make sense to him.

      As Takato thought about the entire circus incident, he remembered what else had happened there, and a faint blush crept onto his cheeks.

      Takato had no idea what had possessed him to kiss Tsuyosa that first time.  Takato had never been so bold before.  He idly supposed that it might have had to do with his conflicting emotions towards the other boy at the time.

      That and the fact that Tsuyosa looked so vulnerable, and adorable soaking wet in his swim trunks.

      Takato blushed a little more at that line of thought.

      It was then that Takato noticed that he had drawn a sketch of Tsuyosa in his notebook without thinking of it.

      The drawing of Tsuyosa was a bust sketch that showed the young Tamer looking as Takato had remembered on that day at the circus.  Tsuyosa looked so vulnerable and timid; so alone and uncertain that it came in sharp contrast with how the boy had acted when they first met.  Takato knew that this side of Tsuyosa was his true side, and not the one of him as the cold and arrogant Tamer who wanted nothing more than to make Takato miserable.

      Takato tried to will the heat away from his cheeks as he remembered their second kiss, the one Tsuyosa had initiated.

      Tsuyosa certainly didn't feel that way about Takato anymore.

      It almost seemed impossible considering their first meeting, and yet Takato couldn't think of wanting it any other way between them now.

      Takato hummed as he decided to neaten up the sketch a little so it'd better capture how Tsuyosa looked.  As he did so, he idly wondered about finding out where the Kaishin Academy was so he could stop by and see Tsuyosa after school.

**_*~*_**

      "Oh John...  How I've missed you..."

      Click.

      "It slices!  It dices!  It-"

      Click.

      "SUPAA MORPHING POWAH FIGHTAH!"

      Click.

      Impmon's cheek twitched as he flipped through the channels on the television.

      "Boring... boring... boring...," he chanted as he surfed through the channels, not finding anything of interest.  There were over a thousand channels but still nothing entertaining on any of them.

      "And Sera's not back yet, either...," Impmon sighed.  "School sucks."

      He had been sitting in the house for at least an hour, most of which was spent battling the alarm clock.  He had no idea how to turn it off, so he had spent the entire time running back and forth to press the snooze button.

      At least, until he ripped the cord out of the wall and threw the alarm out the window.

      Impmon sighed as he flipped through the channels once more, then scowled and turned off the television.

      "That's it," he grunted.  "I'm going to FIND something interesting to do!"

      Impmon trotted back to Sera's room and hopped out the open window, landing on the balcony.  He glanced down in to the yard to see the broken alarm clock, causing him to grin slightly.  Then, he leapt up on to one of the telephone lines and proceeded to walk along it.

      "There's plenty of suckers in this town!" Impmon grinned.  "I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to entertain me!"

**_*~*_**

      Sera sighed as she carried a stack of papers in her arms as she walked along the Kaishin Academy campus.  While the volunteering to be a chaperone on the camping trip had been fun and was a way to get excused from class, it also yielded the responsibility of having to fill out paperwork and reports of her time at camp.

      She had to fill out commentary about each councilor, chaperone, and student she encountered, make note of things that should be improved for the next field trip, essays of things she had learned while there, and other inane busywork.

      Sera sighed again and leafed through the papers as she walked, making sure that it was all there.  It took quite a bit of work, but luckily she and the other volunteers were allowed to spend half the day writing up the paperwork since it was a given that they wouldn't do them during the camping trip.

      The 10-page report on Akkenai's behavior alone was enough to make Sera thankful she had been given time to write it all up.  Even then, she would have written more had she been given more time and paper.

      "Why they don't expel that pervert is beyond me," Sera muttered aloud as she freed one hand to massage her forehead.

      After Sera finished double-checking to make certain everything was there, she glanced up to notice that she had crossed over onto the middle school area of the Kaishin Academy.  The entire academy was very large and held pre-school through college all on the same lot of land.  This made the entire academy incredibly large and very easy to get lost in.

      Thankfully Sera knew her way around, as she had been going there since pre-school, and knew that she'd come along the main building for the middle school after she passed by its gym field.  Idly she looked through the fence to watch the younger kids exercise as she passed by.

      She could see Tsuyosa at the far end of the yard, leaning against the chain link fence as he panted.  He looked winded and red in the face, obviously stressed by the simple workouts that the other children handled so easily.

      Sera paused momentarily.

      "He looks ready to keel over," she muttered aloud, her brow furrowed slightly.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes and felt his forehead, still gasping.  None of the gym teachers paid him any mind, used to the fact that Tsuyosa couldn't handle the general exercises but knowing better than to say anything about it.

      "..."  Sera tilted her head slightly.  "He needs something to build up his stamina and confidence," she observed to herself.

      Tsuyosa sighed as he pushed himself off of the fence and fumbled back in to line with the rest of the children.  He never noticed Sera looking at him, looking quite miserable.

      Suddenly Sera smiled as she got an idea.

      "I know!  I'll teach him to skate!"

**_*~*_**

      "Choco-choco-chocolaaate!"

      "Yessss... let us sing the chocolate song again as we wait!"

      "Yes, yummy, yummy chocolate!  We need chocolate or everyone die!"

      A Numemon stood by the doorway, covered in shadows and wearing lingerie, sweat-dropped quietly and said nothing.

      "Umm...  My lord?" a Bakemon squeaked as he floated in through the doorway, wearing lingerie like the Numemon, and holding a large tray stacked with chocolate.  "I have your chocolate."

      "Choco-choco-chocolate!"

      "Shush, my pet... we will have our chocolate!"

      A black claw slipped out of the darkness and snagged the tray of chocolate away from the Bakemon.

      The Bakemon held back a whimper of fear, and then bowed before the darkness, awaiting his master's dismissal.  "I trust this pleases you, master?" he asked nervously.

      "... Is this... dark chocolate?"

      "... Yes?" the Bakemon broke out in a cold sweat as he looked up into the dark fearfully.  "It is what you asked for, is it not?"

      "... I asked for MILK CHOCOLATE."

      "MILK, MILK, MILK CHO-COOO-LATE!"

      "O-oh!  Forgive me, master!" the Bakemon whimpered fearfully.  "I'll fetch you some milk chocolate right away!"

      "No, no, I'm afraid not."

      "Nope, nope, nooope!"

      "I'm afraid you have to die.  Go kill yourself, mmm'kay?"

      "Oh, PLEASE forgive me, master!" the Bakemon wailed, clasping his claws together in front of him as he begged as best he could despite the fact that he had no knees to beg on.  "It'll never happen again!"

      "... Okay.  I just had a mood swing.  You can live.  Go get me Reeses Pieces."

      "REESES!  REESES!  REESES!"

      "Y-yes, master!  Thank you, master!"  The Bakemon quickly bolted from the darkness before his master changed his mind, thanking his lucky stars for mood swings.

**_*~*_**

      "'Kaishin Academy'...  Yes!  I finally found it!"

      Takato let out a sigh of relief as he stood outside the massive gate that separated the Kaishin Academy grounds from the rest of the city.  The school had been surprisingly hard to find as it was far across town in an area he had never been to before.  He almost got lost a few times before he found it.

      The Academy looked very elegant with its fancy buildings, well-tended bushes, and neatly dressed students.  Takato's own school paled drastically in comparison to Kaishin Academy.  Each student wore a navy and gold uniform, the styles only differing from each age group.  The school seemed to have formidable security as there were signs along the fence warning of the danger of electric shock when the gates were closed, and there were security guards dotting the grounds occasionally, with a massive guard post at the gates.

      Students of all ages walked past Takato on their way home, and some of the richer students took alternative means of transport.

      Takato sweat-dropped as he saw a rich teenaged girl getting a ride on a litter which seemed right out of ancient Egypt, complete with servants carrying it along at all sides.

      "And I thought riding in a helicopter was outrageous," he boggled.

      However, among the unfamiliar faces, Takato could see a very familiar one slowly making its way out the gate.  He whirled his head around and smiled as he instantly recognized who it was.  "Tsuyosa!" he called as he waved to the other boy.

      Tsuyosa walked quietly, looking at his feet as he held his backpack straps. The other children practically parted for him, eying him warily.  Tsuyosa didn't seem to hear Takato at first, then paused and looked up.

      "... Takato?" Tsuyosa blinked slowly.

      Takato took advantage of the break in students as he darted over to Tsuyosa.  "Hey, Tsuyosa!" he said, smiling brightly.

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled shyly back.  "H-hi, Takato!"

      "I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd come see you here," Takato said as he tilted his head slightly.

      "I... don't mind!" Tsuyosa tilted his head as he hefted his backpack.  "I've just never had anyone, you know... ..."  Tsuyosa shrugged helplessly.  "... I'm glad you came."

      Takato smiled brightly and happily at Tsuyosa.  "That's good."  Takato paused for a moment.  "What do you think about hanging out someplace together?"

      Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled even brighter.  "Sure...!"

      ChibiBa glowered from inside Tsuyosa's backpack, quietly.

      "One side!  Comin' through!"

      The two boys looked up at the yelling to see Sera, surprisingly dressed in her normal outfit, complete with skating gear, weaving through the crowd of students.

      "Watch your back!  Oops!  Sorry!" Sera said as she narrowly avoided the other students, only occasionally bumping into someone along the way.

      "Sera?" Tsuyosa blinked as he looked up.

      "Sera?" Takato echoed, blinking.

      Sera skidded to a halt at her name being called and glanced over at the two boys, nearly having passed by them.  "Huh?" she blinked.  "Hey, Tsuyosa!  Hey, Takato!"  She smiled as she skated over to them.

      "Hi...," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... Hi Sera," Takato blinked.  "Are you visiting someone here too?"

      Sera crossed her legs slightly to keep her balance as she came to a halt before Takato and Tsuyosa.  "No... I go here too," she said, tilting her head slightly.

      "Oh.  Then why aren't you wearing a uniform like everyone else?" Takato blinked again.

      "Gym's my last class, so I usually change into my casual clothes before leaving," Sera explained.

      Tsuyosa blinked as he adjusted his backpack.  "Where were you going in such a rush?"

      Sera hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should tell them.  "... I've got a club meeting at Koara Park in about half an hour," she said carefully.

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.  "A skating club?"

      Sera nodded.  "I want to hurry and get something to snack on before the club gets ready to race," she explained.

      "Yeah...," Tsuyosa nodded slightly, then glanced at Takato.

      Takato glanced between Tsuyosa and Sera before an idea came to him.  "Do you mind if we come along and watch?" Takato asked, curious.

      "I don't know...," Sera frowned, hesitant.  "You might freak out if you did."

      "... It can't be worse than being kidnapped by a psychopathic panda and trapped inside a giant floating crystal," Tsuyosa looked at Sera, drolly.

      "... Point taken."


	24. School Daze (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: We're baaaaaaaack!  Did ya miss us?  ^_^  Welp, after waiting for an insanely long time for FF.net to sort itself, it SEEMS safe enough to post the next chapter of Dreaming to Reality.  YAY!  Sadly it seems that because of all the screw-ups FF.net had it made it so that our last chapter got no reviews at all.  That makes us really sad... ;_;  Please make us happy again and review muchly on this chapter, okay?

As nearly always the chapter has been broken into uncut and yaoi-free versions.  If you were looking for the uncut, then you better toddle on over to the other version because this is the yaoi-gree version of chapter 18.  With that said, enjoy our return and please review!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 18: School Daze_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Welcome home, Impmon!"

      "... So this is yer pad?" Impmon blinked as he glanced about, slightly awed.

      The apartment in which Sera lived was large and quite lavish, indicating that her parents had to have quite a sizable income in order to afford it.  It was large, even larger than most houses in Tokyo, and furnished with fine, top of the line decor.  Everything seemed to be spick and span without any speck of dirt in sight, hinting at possible maid services that came in to clean the place.

      Impmon wiggled his feet as he looked around.

      "Yep, it's home" Sera smiled brightly, and hugged Impmon as she held him in her arms, as she stood in the entryway.  "And it's your home now too."

      "This place must be LOADED with food!" Impmon muttered, then scowled slightly and crossed his arms.  "... And good thing, too!  I'm starving!  I didn't get to eat much pizza at all!"

      Impmon looked, accusingly, at Sera.

      Sera sighed and rolled her eyes.  "Well I couldn't very well sneak an entire pizza at a time to where you were hiding," she pointed out.  "It'd look suspicious, and Tsuyosa's dad would've found out and freaked out."

      "Why do I have to hide all the time!?" Impmon huffed and flailed his arms, angrily.  "I helped save the world!  I shouldn't have to hide or pretend I'm a doll!"

      Sera hummed thoughtfully as she slipped off her boots, maneuvering carefully as she did so, so she wouldn't drop Impmon or have to set him down.  "I guess you have a point there," she muttered.  "But I think normal people would still freak out over digimon, regardless."

      Sera frowned as she suddenly remembered news reports she saw of when the Tamers and Beelzebumon fought the D-Reaper; particularly of when Beelzebumon had gotten stabbed and was apparently deleted.  Unconsciously she held Impmon a little closer because of those thoughts.

      Impmon blinked, then blushed lightly as he became aware of how close they were.  "... I'm hungry!" he said quickly, wiping at his cheeks as if to erase the blush.

      "Oh, well, let me show you to the kitchen," Sera smiled, banishing the dark thoughts away.  Still holding Impmon close, she walked through the apartment until she ended up in a sizable kitchen.

      "FOOD!" Impmon cheered.  "C'mon!  Chow time!"

      Sera giggled and set Impmon down.  "I'm full, but you can go ahead and help yourself to anything you like," she said cheerfully.  "If you don't find anything you want, I can try to make you something or order take-out."

      "WHOOHOO!" Impmon ran to the fridge and threw open the door.  He stood there in awe, staring at the food, before he literally leapt in to the fridge.

      "..."  Sera blinked and then giggled.  "I guess the anime didn't exaggerate a digimon's appetite."

      Impmon peered out, half an apple in his mouth, and beamed.  "Take-out too!" he called, then dove back in.

      Sera blinked, twice, and just shook her head, a smile on her face.  "I take it a full fridge and pantry aren't enough?" she asked teasingly.

      Impmon paused and peered back out.  "... Pantry?" he repeated, eyes wide.

      Sera smiled and walked over to a door, which she opened to reveal a large and fully stocked pantry.  "Is this enough food do you think?" she smiled cutely as she tilted her head.

      Impmon turned to stare at the pantry as his eyes shimmered.

      "... I'm in HEAVEN!"

**_*~*_**

      "I'm hoooome!"

      Takato looked around as he slipped his shoes off in the doorway, waiting for his parents to respond and greet him.

      "OH!  Takato!  You're home?" Takato's mom peered in.  "Welcome home!  Did you have fun?"

      "Yeah, mom!" Takato smiled.  "It was great!"

      "Good!" Takato's mom smiled, though she seemed slightly nervous about something.

      Takato blinked as he noticed his mom's nervousness.  He then noticed that his dad didn't seem to be around, looking about as he slipped on his house slippers and walked over to his mother.  "Hey, where's dad?" he asked, wondering what was going on.

      "... Upstairs...," Takato's mother said absently as she made dough.  "... Feeding Guilmon."

      "Huh?  Guilmon's here?" Takato blinked.  Even after the entire D-Reaper incident, Takato's parents tended to insist that Guilmon stay at his shrine in the park, if for no other reason than if he stayed at Takato's house, Guilmon would eat all their bread.

      "He was... helping your dad this morning," Takato's mom muttered, evasively.

      "Helping with what?" Takato asked, feeling apprehension grow within him at his mother's unusual behavior.

      "Your father had a wonderful idea for a recipe."

      That was when Takato noticed the pungent odor of tuna fish and peppers.

      "... Tuna and peppers?!" Takato gagged as he grimaced at the smell.

      "I wouldn't eat it," Takato's mom continued, calmly, as she kneaded the dough.  "So your dad had to find other volunteers."

      "..."  Takato stared at his mother for a moment before he instantly turned and bolted up the stairs.  "GUILMON!"

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa leaned against his dad, vaguely aware of the flashing lights that belonged to the television as he and his father sat on the couch in the dark.  They had spent the entire day together, despite the bizarre robbery, and Tsuyosa was extremely thankful for that.

      He silently promised never to think his dad didn't love him ever again, even if he was extremely busy at work.

      Tsuyosa felt his father shift slightly and looked up, blurry eyed, to see his father looking down at him.

      "You look tired, tiger," Mr. Tengoku grinned, lopsidedly.  Tsuyosa smiled back, sleepily, and nuzzled against his father's side.  ChibiBa sat behind the couch, twitching slightly but otherwise still.

      Mr. Tengoku rubbed his son's side, comfortingly, then shifted a bit to get more comfortable on the couch.

      "This looks like as good place to sleep as any..."

      Tsuyosa giggled in response as his eyes started to drift close.  He jumped slightly when he felt a pressure against the small of his back, then relaxed as he realized it was ChibiBa.  ChibiBa snuggled up against Tsuyosa's back, quietly.  Tsuyosa glanced at his father, warily, then sighed when he realized his father was asleep.

      Tsuyosa snuggled to get comfortable, then sighed and stared at the television as his eyes started to droop and his thoughts wandered.

      Takato.

      Tsuyosa's eyes snapped open as his thoughts drifted to the other boy.  He went to camp thinking he hated the boy only to return home...

      Tsuyosa shivered slightly, then paused as he felt ChibiBa snuggle closer.  He smiled softly and closed his eyes, willing himself to go to sleep.  He didn't know how to think about what happened between him and Takato; it was all so very confusing.  His entire world proved to be so fragile as Takato broke and rearranged it so easily.  He wasn't sure if such changes were a bad thing, either.

      As Tsuyosa slowly drifted to sleep, he wondered if Takato was thinking about him.

**_*~*_**

      "... Does this make me look fat?"

      "Is red really my color?"

      "Ow... is it supposed to ride this much!?"

      "Silk or cotton?"

      "Think this is a good look for me?"

      "Hmm...  Should I go for the edible ones?"

      "Would lingerie or normal work better for me?"

      "Oh no, no.  That's for winters.  You're obviously a spring!"

      "Oooh!  They've got strapless!"

      An Ogremon paused, then hefted up a bra and held it over his chest, testing it against his figure.  "Do you think they have this in a larger size?"

      "Eeee!" a War Monzaemon muttered as he tried to squirm his way in to a lady's night slip.  "They just don't ever seem to have anything in MY size!"

      A Lady Devimon sighed and shook her head as she surveyed the hordes of viral digimon that were in the process of selecting underwear for themselves or piling it into large sacks.  "Let's see some hustle, ladies," she drawled, accenting the last word, as she was the only female digimon present in the lingerie store.  "The master wants you all looking pretty before we head back."  She tapped a pen to the clipboard she held.  "And let's see some hustle on the looting over there."  She gestured the pen at the digimon stuffing underwear into sacks.

      "Ohhh... look!"  A Numemon oozed over, wiggling its 'hips' to show off a pair of thong underwear.  "This is SO me."

      "..."  Lady Devimon merely grunted in response as she made a couple notes on her checklist.

      "OH!!!" a Dark Tyrannomon gasped and pointed, shakily, at a rack.  "LOOK!  LOOK!  It's one of those kinky dominatrix outfits!  It's PERFECT!"

      Lady Devimon sighed, sweat-dropping, as she held her head.  She could have been a servant to a dark lord with an army that lived to destroy and kill, but no, she had to join a group of cross dressers.

      With their boss being the queen of them.

      Lady Devimon sighed again and shook her head before she went back to work.

      At least the pay was good.

**_*~*_**

      Dawn crept into Shinjuku silently, casting a gentle light over all its inhabitants.

      Warm and comfortable, Impmon snuggled under the blankets and sighed as he slumbered.  Sera slept with her arms around him, gently cuddling him as they slept together in her bed.

      Unfortunately the sudden sound of an alarm clock letting off an annoying, high-pitched beeping shattered the serenity of the morning like glass.

      Impmon jumped with a squeal, then looked around frantically.

      "What-what-WHAT?!" he gasped.

      Sera grunted in irritation, her eyes fluttering slightly as she was forced into a semi-awake state.  "Five more minutes...," she half muttered, half whined.

      "What the hell was that!?" Impmon stared at the alarm clock.

      Sera moaned and opened one eye at Impmon as she became more coherent.  "My alarm clock," she muttered.  "Could you hit the large button on top of it, please?  That's the snooze button."

      Impmon leaned over and pressed the button, testing it to see if it'd actually work.  He sighed with relief as the beep silenced, then scowled.  "What was that about?" he muttered as he snuggled back under the covers.

      "It's supposed to make noise and wake me up when I need to get up and ready for school," Sera sighed, debating whether to actually get up or wait until the alarm clock went off again.

      "... School?" Impmon looked at Sera, horrified.

      "Yeah," Sera covered her mouth to stifle a yawn.  "I go to high school."

      "... Go to school... as in LEAVE?"

      "Yeah, why?"  Sera blinked, still too tired to figure out where Impmon was going with his inquiry.

      "... You can't leave!"  Impmon's jaw dropped.  "I'll be bored!"

      Sera blinked slowly at that.  "Oh.  Well, how about you watch TV while I'm gone?"

      Impmon pouted.

      Sera blinked again, feeling a twinge of guilt at Impmon's pouting.  "... What about just spending today looking around the apartment and getting a feel for it?" she offered.

      Impmon stuck his lower lip out as he pouted even more, ears drooping.

      Sera grimaced, feeling that twinge become a pit in her stomach.  "...  ... You can order take-out while I'm gone?"

      Impmon seemed to debate, then huffed and returned to pouting unhappily.

      "It's too EARLY for school!"

      "I know what you mean," Sera sighed.  "But they're sadists, so it starts at 7:30.  Which means I've got to get there before the late bell or I'll get in trouble."

      "You can't just stay home?" Impmon sulked.

      "Not without getting into trouble," Sera sighed as she sat up and brushed back some stray hairs that had fallen in front of her face.

      "So?" Impmon shrugged.  "Besides, it's been past ten minutes.  You'll be late anyway!"

      Sera blinked and looked at the alarm clock just in time for the snooze button being pushed to have worn off, which caused it to resume its insane beeping.

      "Aw, crap!"

      "ACK!" Impmon covered his ears.

      Instantly Sera tore out of bed and ran over to her closet, ignoring her alarm.  Without thought of Impmon's prescience, she quickly undressed so she could change.

      Impmon growled and turned off the alarm, muttering darkly.  He glanced up just in time to see Sera in the process of changing.  His eyes widened and, with a squeak, he fell out of the bed on to the floor.

      Sera didn't notice in her haste as she tossed her discarded clothes into the hamper once she had taken everything off.  She then quickly started getting dressed into her uniform, which hung outside her closet for convenience.

      Impmon twitched on the floor, eyes glazed and unable to speak.

      Sera put on her earrings once she finished getting into her uniform and smoothing it out.  She then noticed Impmon on the floor as she grabbed her hairbrush.  "Impmon?" she blinked as she quickly ran the brush through her hair.  "Why're you on the floor?"

      "Haaaaah...," came the dazed reply.

      "Did you fall out of bed when you turned off the alarm?" Sera blinked, setting her hairbrush down on her dresser before she walked over to Impmon.

      "Uh... yeah..."  Impmon didn't dare mention the true reason.

      Sera kneeled down next to Impmon and helped him stand up.  "You've got to be more careful," she smiled.

      "... Ahuh...," Impmon boggled, dazed.

      Sera lingered for a moment, smiling at Impmon and thinking how cute he was, before she stood back up.  She went over to her dresser and resumed brushing her hair quickly, trying to get out all the tangles quickly and without too much pain.  "Maybe you should go back to bed, Impmon," she commented as she glanced back at him in-between brushing.  "You look out of it."

      "... Huuuh..."

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed heavily as he stared blandly at Miss Asanuma giving a math lesson.  Or was it science?

      Takato wasn't really paying attention, so he didn't know or really care.

      Going back to school and getting back into the same monotonous routine after an adventure was insanely boring.  Despite knowing that he had to go to school so he could function in the real world when he became an adult, it didn't make going any easier.

      He glanced over at Juri, Hirokazu, and Kenta where they sat in their seats.  They seemed as bored as Takato was.  Even more so in Hirokazu's case as he had fallen asleep behind his English book, which had been propped open as an impromptu barrier, as if it would keep Miss Asanuma from noticing him.  However, she seemed surprisingly lenient that day.  Perhaps it was because they did, in fact, just come back from the fieldtrip.

      Takato sighed and turned his gaze out the window.  He'd rather be outside on a warm and sunny day like today.  It'd be perfect for playing with Guilmon in, if he wasn't sick with an upset stomach from all the baking experiments Takato's dad had him ingest that is.

      Absently Takato started doodling in his notebook as his thoughts wandered.  He thought about the circus and the entire battle that had taken place there, grimacing slightly.  "I hope those digimon are gone for good," he hoped silently.

      The entire circus incident got surprisingly little coverage.  It didn't seem as if anyone even noticed it had happened.  Even with the children disappearing.

      Takato absently wondered if that Black Tailmon had used her Cat's Eye Hypnotist attack on the adults as well as the children.  It was the only thing that would make sense to him.

      As Takato thought about the entire circus incident, he remembered what else had happened there...

      It was then that Takato noticed that he had drawn a sketch of Tsuyosa in his notebook without thinking of it.

      The drawing of Tsuyosa was a bust sketch that showed the young Tamer looking as Takato had remembered on that day at the circus.  Tsuyosa looked so vulnerable and timid; so alone and uncertain that it came in sharp contrast with how the boy had acted when they first met.  Takato knew that this side of Tsuyosa was his true side, and not the one of him as the cold and arrogant Tamer who wanted nothing more than to make Takato miserable.

      Tsuyosa certainly didn't feel that way about Takato anymore.

      It almost seemed impossible considering their first meeting, and yet Takato couldn't think of wanting it any other way between them now.

      Takato hummed as he decided to neaten up the sketch a little so it'd better capture how Tsuyosa looked.  As he did so, he idly wondered about finding out where the Kaishin Academy was so he could stop by and see Tsuyosa after school.

**_*~*_**

      "Oh John...  How I've missed you..."

      Click.

      "It slices!  It dices!  It-"

      Click.

      "SUPAA MORPHING POWAH FIGHTAH!"

      Click.

      Impmon's cheek twitched as he flipped through the channels on the television.

      "Boring... boring... boring...," he chanted as he surfed through the channels, not finding anything of interest.  There were over a thousand channels but still nothing entertaining on any of them.

      "And Sera's not back yet, either...," Impmon sighed.  "School sucks."

      He had been sitting in the house for at least an hour, most of which was spent battling the alarm clock.  He had no idea how to turn it off, so he had spent the entire time running back and forth to press the snooze button.

      At least, until he ripped the cord out of the wall and threw the alarm out the window.

      Impmon sighed as he flipped through the channels once more, then scowled and turned off the television.

      "That's it," he grunted.  "I'm going to FIND something interesting to do!"

      Impmon trotted back to Sera's room and hopped out the open window, landing on the balcony.  He glanced down in to the yard to see the broken alarm clock, causing him to grin slightly.  Then, he leapt up on to one of the telephone lines and proceeded to walk along it.

      "There's plenty of suckers in this town!" Impmon grinned.  "I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to entertain me!"

**_*~*_**

      Sera sighed as she carried a stack of papers in her arms as she walked along the Kaishin Academy campus.  While the volunteering to be a chaperone on the camping trip had been fun and was a way to get excused from class, it also yielded the responsibility of having to fill out paperwork and reports of her time at camp.

      She had to fill out commentary about each councilor, chaperone, and student she encountered, make note of things that should be improved for the next field trip, essays of things she had learned while there, and other inane busywork.

      Sera sighed again and leafed through the papers as she walked, making sure that it was all there.  It took quite a bit of work, but luckily she and the other volunteers were allowed to spend half the day writing up the paperwork since it was a given that they wouldn't do them during the camping trip.

      The 10-page report on Akkenai's behavior alone was enough to make Sera thankful she had been given time to write it all up.  Even then, she would have written more had she been given more time and paper.

      "Why they don't expel that pervert is beyond me," Sera muttered aloud as she freed one hand to massage her forehead.

      After Sera finished double-checking to make certain everything was there, she glanced up to notice that she had crossed over onto the middle school area of the Kaishin Academy.  The entire academy was very large and held pre-school through college all on the same lot of land.  This made the entire academy incredibly large and very easy to get lost in.

      Thankfully Sera knew her way around, as she had been going there since pre-school, and knew that she'd come along the main building for the middle school after she passed by its gym field.  Idly she looked through the fence to watch the younger kids exercise as she passed by.

      She could see Tsuyosa at the far end of the yard, leaning against the chain link fence as he panted.  He looked winded and red in the face, obviously stressed by the simple workouts that the other children handled so easily.

      Sera paused momentarily.

      "He looks ready to keel over," she muttered aloud, her brow furrowed slightly.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes and felt his forehead, still gasping.  None of the gym teachers paid him any mind, used to the fact that Tsuyosa couldn't handle the general exercises but knowing better than to say anything about it.

      "..."  Sera tilted her head slightly.  "He needs something to build up his stamina and confidence," she observed to herself.

      Tsuyosa sighed as he pushed himself off of the fence and fumbled back in to line with the rest of the children.  He never noticed Sera looking at him, looking quite miserable.

      Suddenly Sera smiled as she got an idea.

      "I know!  I'll teach him to skate!"

**_*~*_**

      "Choco-choco-chocolaaate!"

      "Yessss... let us sing the chocolate song again as we wait!"

      "Yes, yummy, yummy chocolate!  We need chocolate or everyone die!"

      A Numemon stood by the doorway, covered in shadows and wearing lingerie, sweat-dropped quietly and said nothing.

      "Umm...  My lord?" a Bakemon squeaked as he floated in through the doorway, wearing lingerie like the Numemon, and holding a large tray stacked with chocolate.  "I have your chocolate."

      "Choco-choco-chocolate!"

      "Shush, my pet... we will have our chocolate!"

      A black claw slipped out of the darkness and snagged the tray of chocolate away from the Bakemon.

      The Bakemon held back a whimper of fear, and then bowed before the darkness, awaiting his master's dismissal.  "I trust this pleases you, master?" he asked nervously.

      "... Is this... dark chocolate?"

      "... Yes?" the Bakemon broke out in a cold sweat as he looked up into the dark fearfully.  "It is what you asked for, is it not?"

      "... I asked for MILK CHOCOLATE."

      "MILK, MILK, MILK CHO-COOO-LATE!"

      "O-oh!  Forgive me, master!" the Bakemon whimpered fearfully.  "I'll fetch you some milk chocolate right away!"

      "No, no, I'm afraid not."

      "Nope, nope, nooope!"

      "I'm afraid you have to die.  Go kill yourself, mmm'kay?"

      "Oh, PLEASE forgive me, master!" the Bakemon wailed, clasping his claws together in front of him as he begged as best he could despite the fact that he had no knees to beg on.  "It'll never happen again!"

      "... Okay.  I just had a mood swing.  You can live.  Go get me Reeses Pieces."

      "REESES!  REESES!  REESES!"

      "Y-yes, master!  Thank you, master!"  The Bakemon quickly bolted from the darkness before his master changed his mind, thanking his lucky stars for mood swings.

**_*~*_**

      "'Kaishin Academy'...  Yes!  I finally found it!"

      Takato let out a sigh of relief as he stood outside the massive gate that separated the Kaishin Academy grounds from the rest of the city.  The school had been surprisingly hard to find as it was far across town in an area he had never been to before.  He almost got lost a few times before he found it.

      The Academy looked very elegant with its fancy buildings, well-tended bushes, and neatly dressed students.  Takato's own school paled drastically in comparison to Kaishin Academy.  Each student wore a navy and gold uniform, the styles only differing from each age group.  The school seemed to have formidable security as there were signs along the fence warning of the danger of electric shock when the gates were closed, and there were security guards dotting the grounds occasionally, with a massive guard post at the gates.

      Students of all ages walked past Takato on their way home, and some of the richer students took alternative means of transport.

      Takato sweat-dropped as he saw a rich teenaged girl getting a ride on a litter which seemed right out of ancient Egypt, complete with servants carrying it along at all sides.

      "And I thought riding in a helicopter was outrageous," he boggled.

      However, among the unfamiliar faces, Takato could see a very familiar one slowly making its way out the gate.  He whirled his head around and smiled as he instantly recognized who it was.  "Tsuyosa!" he called as he waved to the other boy.

      Tsuyosa walked quietly, looking at his feet as he held his backpack straps. The other children practically parted for him, eying him warily.  Tsuyosa didn't seem to hear Takato at first, then paused and looked up.

      "... Takato?" Tsuyosa blinked slowly.

      Takato took advantage of the break in students as he darted over to Tsuyosa.  "Hey, Tsuyosa!" he said, smiling brightly.

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled shyly back.  "H-hi, Takato!"

      "I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd come see you here," Takato said as he tilted his head slightly.

      "I... don't mind!" Tsuyosa tilted his head as he hefted his backpack.  "I've just never had anyone, you know... ..."  Tsuyosa shrugged helplessly.  "... I'm glad you came."

      Takato smiled brightly and happily at Tsuyosa.  "That's good."  Takato paused for a moment.  "What do you think about hanging out someplace together?"

      Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled even brighter.  "Sure...!"

      ChibiBa glowered from inside Tsuyosa's backpack, quietly.

      "One side!  Comin' through!"

      The two boys looked up at the yelling to see Sera, surprisingly dressed in her normal outfit, complete with skating gear, weaving through the crowd of students.

      "Watch your back!  Oops!  Sorry!" Sera said as she narrowly avoided the other students, only occasionally bumping into someone along the way.

      "Sera?" Tsuyosa blinked as he looked up.

      "Sera?" Takato echoed, blinking.

      Sera skidded to a halt at her name being called and glanced over at the two boys, nearly having passed by them.  "Huh?" she blinked.  "Hey, Tsuyosa!  Hey, Takato!"  She smiled as she skated over to them.

      "Hi...," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... Hi Sera," Takato blinked.  "Are you visiting someone here too?"

      Sera crossed her legs slightly to keep her balance as she came to a halt before Takato and Tsuyosa.  "No... I go here too," she said, tilting her head slightly.

      "Oh.  Then why aren't you wearing a uniform like everyone else?" Takato blinked again.

      "Gym's my last class, so I usually change into my casual clothes before leaving," Sera explained.

      Tsuyosa blinked as he adjusted his backpack.  "Where were you going in such a rush?"

      Sera hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should tell them.  "... I've got a club meeting at Koara Park in about half an hour," she said carefully.

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.  "A skating club?"

      Sera nodded.  "I want to hurry and get something to snack on before the club gets ready to race," she explained.

      "Yeah...," Tsuyosa nodded slightly, then glanced at Takato.

      Takato glanced between Tsuyosa and Sera before an idea came to him.  "Do you mind if we come along and watch?" Takato asked, curious.

      "I don't know...," Sera frowned, hesitant.  "You might freak out if you did."

      "... It can't be worse than being kidnapped by a psychopathic panda and trapped inside a giant floating crystal," Tsuyosa looked at Sera, drolly.

      "... Point taken."


	25. Subtle Revelations

Authors' Notes: Yes!  Since FF.net has proven stable, we're back to updating Dreaming to Reality every four days!  Whoo hoo!  I bet you're all happy.  XD  As you may notice this chapter takes some interesting new twists and turns.  Questions will be answered and new ones will be asked.  Also there's a return of a certain infamous character.  Can you guess who?

This chapter doesn't have any yaoi (at least not any serious yaoi), so you don't have to worry about whether or not this is uncensored or has boy-boy lovin'.  It's aaaaaall safe and uncensored this time.  Sorry to all of you who were looking forward to more snuggly-ness between Tsuyosa and Takato!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 19: Subtle Revelations_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "GRRR!"

      "EEEEEEK!"

      A little child squealed and ran down the sidewalk, hysterical as he clutched his ice cream tightly.

      Impmon cackled happily as the child ran away, ducking back in to the bushes to avoid being seen.  Humans were so much fun to scare.  He didn't even have to try hard, either.  All he had to do was stick out his tongue and people would run off, screaming.

      That fact was sometimes annoying, but right now it was hilarious.  The only time he actually disliked it when humans ran from him was when he wanted something from them.

      The sudden scent of something hot and delicious tickled Impmon's nose, causing his stomach to rumble as hunger made itself known.

      Impmon darted down the sidewalk, behind the bushes just in case he came across any potential victims, as he sought out the food.  As he turned the corner, he paused and stared in disbelief.

      Standing in front of the source of the food, which was a road vendor selling octopus puffs, was Sera, along with Tsuyosa and Takato.

      "... School's out?" Impmon blinked.

      "Four dozen octopus puffs please," Sera ordered, smiling.

      Tsuyosa blinked and glanced at his backpack, then giggled slightly.

      "Looks like ChibiBa's here, too," Impmon smirked.  "Four dozen isn't enough!"

      Impmon slunk closer, trying to avoid detection, as he neared the Tamers.  They didn't seem to notice him as they were waiting for their order to be filled.

      Impmon crouched and debated between leaping out to scare them or simply making himself known.  Normally, he wouldn't think too much of it.  It never hurt anyone and, besides, Sera laughed the last time he did it.  But then, there was the matter of ChibiBa.

      Would ChibiBa rip his head off before he realized it was just a joke?  Impmon wasn't sure.

      "Here you go, young lady," the vendor said as he handed over four small paper trays containing the octopus puffs to Sera.  She in turn handed two of them to Tsuyosa and one to Takato before she got out her wallet to pay for the food.

      Impmon decided to go for it.  Might as well die with a laugh.

      Impmon suddenly jumped up from the bushes.

      "RRROOOAARRR!!"

      Tsuyosa squeaked as he jumped, ChibiBa peeking out quickly from the backpack.  Sera shrieked, nearly dropping her wallet and the octopus puffs she carried.  Takato yowled and whirled, half-expecting a digimon attack.

      "MONSTER!!!" the vendor screamed before he bolted from the cart, not caring that he left without getting paid first.

      Impmon giggled insanely as he jumped on to the cart and started grabbing octopus puffs.

      "I'm still alive!" Impmon cackled.  "And I've got food!"

      "I knew it was you," ChibiBa curled back up in the backpack.  "I smelled you."

      "... Oh."

      "Impmon?" Sera blinked once she realized who had scared them.  "What're you doing here?"

      "I got bored," Impmon shrugged.

      "Geez, Impmon, did you have to go and scare us like that?" Takato gasped as he tried to calm down his adrenaline rush.

      "Why not?" Impmon beamed.

      "ChibiBa could've taken your head off," Tsuyosa blinked as he looked around.  "... And what are we going to do about the octopus puffs...?"

      "Don't worry about it!" Impmon beamed.  "He ran off.  Must be for free!"

      "I agree with Impmon!" ChibiBa stuck out to grab some octopus puffs himself.

      "We can't exactly pay for them now," Sera shrugged as she put her wallet away.  "And if we put money here to pay for them, it'd probably get taken before that guy gets back."

      "But we shouldn't take them without paying," Takato frowned.

      "There isn't much we can do about it," Sera shrugged helplessly.  "We'd pay, but the guy's gone, so it's a moot point, you know?"

      "Right!  Let's go, then!" Impmon jumped down from the cart, arms full of octopus puffs.

      "..."  Takato frowned even more, not liking the feeling he got that what they were doing was stealing.

      "I'll have my dad track the guy down later to pay for them?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "Or ChibiBa can do it now?"

      "If he saw me, he'd run screaming," ChibiBa pointed out.

      "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.  "Having your dad finding the guy and paying him later I mean."

      "Okay...," Tsuyosa flushed slightly.  No one ever really said he had any good ideas before, except for ChibiBa.  But then, ChibiBa always thought he had good ideas.

      "Good!" Sera smiled brightly.  "Now that that's settled, let's get going before the race starts."

      "Race?" Impmon looked up.

      "Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you this morning didn't I?" Sera blinked, as she scratched her cheek lightly.  "We're heading into the park, where my skating group's going to be doing some racing."

      "Oh," Impmon chewed on an octopus puff.

      "... I really hope none of you guys freak out," Sera muttered to herself as she headed into the park.

      "Why?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "What would we freak out over?"

      "Nudist racers!" ChibiBa cackled.  Tsuyosa blinked and tilted his head.

      "Huh?"

      "... Nothing!"

      Sera yelped and nearly face-faulted at ChibiBa's joke.

      Takato blinked at ChibiBa, eying the small Mega oddly.  "Why would anyone want to race naked?" he asked.

      "... It's an older person thing!" ChibiBa grinned at Sera.

      Impmon blinked, then flushed slightly.

      Sera rolled her eyes and shook her head at ChibiBa, missing Impmon blushing.  "No, we don't do THAT.  But some people think it's just as shocking," she muttered.

      "Older person thing," ChibiBa repeated as he munched on an octopus puff.

      "Ah...," Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.

      "What could be as shocking as racing around naked?" Takato blinked blankly.

      "... You'll see," Sera muttered ominously.

      "..."  Impmon wished they'd drop the 'naked' bit.

      Sera came to a halt when they came upon a large area of the park that was made mostly of concrete.  She glanced at her watch before looking around, frowning.  "Figures...  I'm on time and everyone else decides to be late," she commented as she sat down on a park bench.

      "Oh," Tsuyosa glanced around, quietly.  "Well, at least we have a chance to eat now."

      ChibiBa muttered his agreement through a mouth full of octopus puffs.

      Takato nodded as he took a seat on a small patch of grass surrounding a lone oak tree before he started eating his octopus puffs.

      Impmon sat down by Sera and shoved an entire stick of octopus puffs in his mouth, chewing.

      Sera smiled at Impmon, giggling a little, before she started eating her octopus puffs too.

      Tsuyosa stood, uncertain, then slowly walked over to sit by Takato.  He didn't say anything as he sat down, very self-conscious, and munched on his octopus puffs.

      Takato smiled at Tsuyosa as the other boy sat down beside him.

      "..."  ChibiBa scowled from inside the backpack.

      It didn't take very long for the Tamers and digimon to finish their octopus puffs, particularly the digimon.

      "Ahhh, that's good!" Impmon cackled, patting his stomach.

      "Yeah," Sera smiled at Impmon before she threw her empty container in a nearby trashcan.  She then blinked as she noticed someone coming.  "Uh oh, you'd better hide, Impmon."  She glanced back at her partner.  "It looks like they're finally showing up now."

      Impmon blinked, then quickly dove behind some bushes.

      Tsuyosa looked up, blinking, as ChibiBa snuggled deeper in to Tsuyosa's backpack.

      Takato glanced around, wondering what people in a skating club would be like.

      A young woman with short black hair and gray eyes wearing a large T-shirt with vertical black and white stripes and black jeans with matching sneakers walked over to Sera.  She was carrying a large poster on a cardboard stand under one arm, holding a flag with a roll of toilet paper threaded through it, and wore a pair of binoculars, a stop watch, and many cords of nylon with whistles on them around her neck.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then tilted his head.  "A... referee?" he wondered.

      "Hi, Suicidal Sera," the young woman said in a surprisingly monotone voice as she waved dully to Sera.

      "Hi, Miss Referee," Sera waved back, smiling.

      "Suicidal Sera?" Impmon blinked quietly.

      "I'm surprised you got here before me," 'Miss Referee' said as she set the flag and toilet paper down onto the bench after Sera stood up.  Miss Referee then set down the large cardboard stand and poster, which was revealed to be a detailed map of the surrounding area with numerous markings on it.

      "Well you and everyone else seem to be running late," Sera pointed out.

      Tsuyosa watched, quietly, and glanced at Takato.  "... It looks rather complicated," he whispered.

      Takato nodded as he glanced at Tsuyosa.  "Yeah.  But how complicated could a skating race be?" he whispered back.

      Miss Referee merely shrugged and took off one of the whistle necklaces, handing it to Sera.  Sera accepted it and slipped it around her neck.  "Do you have the medal?" Miss Referee asked.

      "Why do they need whistles?" Tsuyosa whispered, blinking.

      "Of course," Sera said as she rooted around her backpack and pulled out what, at first glance, appeared to be a gold medal, which she handed to Miss Referee.  On closer inspection it really was just a large piece of soap carved to look like a medal and painted gold.  It seemed rather worn by how the frayed the ribbon was, and by the fact that bits of the gold paint were flaking off.

      "Dunno," Takato whispered.

      "Thanks," Miss Referee said as she slipped the medal around her neck along with the other things she carried there.  She glanced at Takato and Tsuyosa as she noticed them for the first time, then glanced at Sera.  "Friends of yours?"

      "Yeah, they wanted to watch the race," Sera explained.

      "... Either of them the fainting type or would report the police?" Miss Referee asked, her voice the same calm monotone she had been speaking in since she started.

      "Fainting?" Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.  "The police?"

      "... Are they doing something illegal here?" Takato whispered.

      "I don't think so," Sera shook her head.

      "Is this a race to rob a bank?" Tsuyosa glanced at Takato, confused.

      "... I hope not," Takato muttered, equally confused.

      "Okay, they can watch then," Miss Referee nodded as she pulled out a piece of white chalk from her pocket.  She then used it to draw a straight line across the concrete path.

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly, then looked at Takato again.  "It doesn't look like robbing a bank... since that doesn't involve soap or chalk...," he began, slowly.

      Anything more he was going to say was interrupted as someone suddenly glomped onto him from behind.

      "HEYA BUDDY!" Akkenai squealed.

      The teenager was dressed up in tight brown leather pants, a torn up T-shirt, a black helmet with "World's Greatest Lover" printed on it, and a mismatched set of red, green, and black padding on his arms and legs, with yellow and white roller-blades.

      "EEEE!?" Tsuyosa jumped, startled, and whirled to see who had grabbed him.  He blinked repeatedly when he saw who it was, then paled.  "HUH?!"

      "Wha-?!" Takato whirled to glare at Akkenai once he recovered from shock.  "HEY!!!"

      Impmon glowered from the bushes, twitching, as ChibiBa did his best not to move and draw attention to himself.

      "Hi, Akkenai the Hentai," Miss Referee said calmly.

      "A-Akkenai?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "What... what're you doing here?"

      "I'm in the club!" Akkenai beamed.

      "You only joined because I'm in it," Sera pointed out irritably as she skated over to the boys.

      "SERA!" Akkenai squealed as he instantly let go of Tsuyosa and lunged at Sera with his arms wide and ready to glomp her as well.  Tsuyosa yelped and scooted away from Akkenai, thankful that he was released and wary of a second glomp.

      Akkenai never got to his intended destination as Sera punched in him the face, knocking him back with a bloody nose.

      "No killing or incapacitating the other members," Miss Referee warned, not at all disturbed by what was going on.

      Akkenai ended up crashing into Tsuyosa, his head landing into the younger boy's lap.  "Ooowwww...  Why'd you do that, Sera?" Akkenai sniffled as he held his nose, his voice sounding slightly off.

      Tsuyosa squeaked and paled, staring down at Akkenai as he froze.

      Akkenai peered up at Tsuyosa and grinned lecherously.  "Oooh, comfy," he said as he moved in Tsuyosa's lap to get more comfortable.

      "U-um...," Tsuyosa's eyes widened.

      ChibiBa spasmed in Tsuyosa's backpack, fighting his desire to kill Akkenai.

      "... Get off him, pervert!" Takato snapped as he forcefully shoved Akkenai out of Tsuyosa's lap.

      "Hey!" Akkenai yelped as he was evicted from his previous location.  He instantly sat up and glowered at Takato.  "What'd you do that for!?  I was COMFY!"

      Tsuyosa inched away from Akkenai, looking very wary of the older boy.

      "Tsuyosa doesn't want you to touch him!" Takato snapped, glaring at Akkenai.

      "But he's so cute and cuddly in that little uniform of his!" Akkenai whined.  Tsuyosa blinked and fidgeted with his Kaishin academy uniform, suddenly very self-conscious.

      "I do not," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "Doesn't he make you wanna squeeze him to death?" Akkenai crooned as he stumbled to his feet and got ready to lunge again at the younger boy.  Before he could get his footing, however, Sera calmly kicked his ankle and sent him sprawling into the ground just short of Tsuyosa.

      "I'm not going to stand here and watch you molest anyone, pervert!" Sera growled as she crossed her arms across her chest.

      Tsuyosa squeaked as he inched away from the fallen boy.  He looked up at Sera and smiled, thankfully, then quickly scooted farther away from Akkenai.  ChibiBa tried not to growl as he foamed at the mouth.

      Takato moved between Tsuyosa and Akkenai, intending to shield him from the perverted teenager should he get up and lunge again.  "Leave Tsuyosa alone!" Takato snapped.

      "And Sera too, for that matter," Impmon muttered, under his breath.

      Akkenai spat out grass as he staggered to his feet again, his face smudged green in places from grass stains.  He peered up at Sera 'innocently'.  "What?  Are you feeling neglected, Sera?" he asked.

      "No.  I don't want you to molest Tsuyosa!  And I don't want you grabbing onto me during the race like you did the last time!" Sera snapped, glaring at Akkenai.

      "Grabbing is legal as long as it's not kidnapping," Miss Referee pointed out idly as she lay out whistles along the park bench.

      Tsuyosa peered out from behind Takato, blinking slowly before he sighed with relief that Akkenai seemed to have forgotten him.

      However, ChibiBa quietly vowed not to forget Akkenai.

      "Even the kind of grabbing Akkenai does?" Tsuyosa stared at the referee.

      "It's not incapacitating or deadly," Miss Referee shrugged.

      "I know!  I'll just grab you now!" Akkenai grinned as he scrambled to his feet before he lunged at Sera.

      Impmon suddenly stuck his foot out of the bushes, snagging Akkenai's legs and tripping him.  The perverted teenager yowled as he flailed his arms just before he slammed face-first into the ground.

      Impmon stuck his foot back in the bushes before anyone could see and winked at Sera.  Sera blinked and let out a sigh of relief followed by a small giggle, casting a quick grateful smile at her partner.

      "Oww...  What'd I trip on?" Akkenai blinked as he looked around, confused.

      "... Are you sure you should race, Akkenai?" Tsuyosa asked, 'innocently'.  "You don't seem that good...  You keep falling down!"

      ChibiBa squirmed happily, covering his mouth with his claws so he couldn't burst out laughing.

      "Something tripped me!" Akkenai flailed as he sat up.  "And those other times Sera hit me!"

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blinked, then looked around just as 'innocently'.  "I don't see anyone..."

      "Maybe you should just go home," Takato smirked.  "If you keep tripping like that you won't stand a chance while racing."

      "It works for the Graceful Klutz," Miss Referee muttered as she passed out whistles to a few roller-bladers that had just shown up.

      Sera rolled her eyes but made no comment.

      Akkenai stood up, whining a little as he rubbed his sore nose and face.  He then looked at Sera, as if expecting sympathy from her.

      "Wow... skating sounds kind of easy if a klutz can do it...," Tsuyosa tapped his chin, then sighed.  "But I probably couldn't do it, anyway."

      Sera ignored Akkenai and instead looked at Tsuyosa.  "Yeah, it's really fun," she said, sweat-dropping a little.

      "Sounds it," Tsuyosa shrugged slightly.  "But I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to."

      "Sure you could," Sera smiled.

      "Seeeeraaaa," Akkenai whined, getting the skater in question's attention.  "I've got a boo-boo.  Would you kiss it and make it better?"

      "Drop dead," Sera glared.

      "... No, I can't," Tsuyosa looked at Sera, levelly.  "I can't do a lot of things," he added, quietly.

      Sera looked back at Tsuyosa, attempting to ignore Akkenai.  "Sure you can!" she said encouragingly.  "Many people can skate who thought they couldn't."

      "... Bet they weren't sick," Tsuyosa grunted under his breath, refusing to look at anyone.

      "Tsuyosa...," Takato said softly as he reached out to put his hand on Tsuyosa's shoulder.

      "Not sick but...," Sera glanced around at some of the skaters gathering near Miss Referee.

      Tsuyosa glanced up at Takato, his expression as unreadable and cold as when they first met.  "... It's true..."

      "You know, Zokuto over there skates, and well...," Sera gestured over to a small group of guys who appeared to be old enough to be in college already.

      Takato looked towards where Sera pointed and did a double take.  "... Does that guy have one arm?" he blinked, twice.

      Tsuyosa blinked and looked up, slowly.

      One of the college-aged guys, with long brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a plain white T-shirt and somewhat torn up jeans, black skating gear, and a number of earrings, had his right sleeve pinned up at the shoulder, as it was apparent that there was no reason to have a sleeve there in the first place.

      Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly, dumbfounded.  "..."

      "..."  Takato glanced from the guy with one arm to Tsuyosa.  "Hey, if having one arm isn't a problem, then it's obvious that being sick won't be an issue," he whispered.

      Tsuyosa paused, then looked at Takato.  His cold expression melted as a weak smile crossed his face.

      "Y-yeah..."

      "Tsuyosa," Takato smiled back at Tsuyosa, gently.  "You've got people who care about you, who don't care if you're sick.  Heck, most of the time we forget that you are sick!  So don't dwell on it, okay?"

      Tsuyosa flushed slightly and nodded, nervous and uncertain.

      Suddenly the sharp sound of a whistle being blown pierced the air, catching everyone's attention.

      Tsuyosa jumped, startled, and whirled to stare.  Impmon peered out, watching Akkenai cautiously as he tried to see what was happening.  Takato blinked and turned to look for the source of the whistle.

      The source of the whistle was in fact Miss Referee, who glanced around at all those gathered.  "Everyone is present and accounted for," she said calmly yet loudly.  "So get over to the starting line."

      Sera nodded and skated over to the chalk line that served as the starting line, barely missing getting glomped by Akkenai who had decided to use that moment to try to quietly lunge at her.

      Akkenai yowled and wobbled for a few moments because of the unsuccessful lunge before he righted himself.  "Damn," he whined as all he ended up grabbing was air.

      "They're starting...," Tsuyosa blinked as he leaned back.  He suddenly jerked and blinked, snapping about to peer at his backpack.  "Huh?"

      Miss Referee stood by the large map, calmly waiting until all the skaters had gathered around the chalk line.  "Okay, welcome everyone to the summer edition of the Kamikaze Ring Race of Insanity 5000," she said, her voice as monotone as ever.

      "Kamikaze... Ring Race... of Insanity?" Impmon didn't like the sound of that.

      Tsuyosa reached back to feel his backpack, then blinked repeatedly.  He quickly slipped off his backpack and opened it up, peering inside.

      Takato blinked as he noticed Tsuyosa, turning his attention away from the skaters.  "What's wrong, Tsuyosa?" he whispered.

      "... ChibiBa's gone!" Tsuyosa looked up, bewildered.

      "Huh?  Where would he go?" Takato blinked.

      "As always I'll be judge, official, referee, and legal adult who can pay bail or fake insurance papers," Miss Referee said, her tone of voice making it hard to tell whether she was joking or not.  A number of the roller-bladers chuckled at her comment as if she had meant it as a joke.

      "I don't... know!" Tsuyosa glanced around.  "He never said anything..."

      "... Maybe he went to get more octopus puffs?" Takato blinked.

      "Maybe..." Tsuyosa zipped up his backpack and leaned back.  Impmon tilted his head, and then scanned the area as well.  He jumped when he saw the very digimon in question darting along the rooftops, barely visible even to Impmon's eyes.  ChibiBa paused, then turned and winked at Impmon.  Impmon blinked repeatedly, then smirked.

      "Looks like ChibiBa's about to do some squirrel hunting," Impmon snickered.

      "As such I'll give out the rules of the race before we begin, like always," Miss Referee continued.  There were a few groans from those collected, as if they had heard the rules numerous times before.  "I know, but we do have a couple new people that need to know the rules."  She took a step back from the poster so that everyone could see it.  "This is our race course.  Memorize the map if you haven't already."

      Miss Referee pointed at five gold stars on the map.  "These are the check points.  Miss a check point and you're disqualified," she said calmly.  "At each check point you stand a chance of getting either a gold, silver, or copper ring."  She paused a moment to pull out three somewhat large bracelets that were painted gold, silver, and copper from her pocket.  "Each ring is worth time off your total racing time.  Copper for one second, silver for three, and gold for five.  Five people who don't want to risk loss of life or limb will be going to these points and setting up where they'll be."

      A few people raised their hands, some instantly.  Miss Referee selected five of them and gave them each three different rings.  "Go set up while I finish explaining the rules."  The five then immediately skated off in different directions.

      Miss Referee looked at the rest that were assembled before pointing at the green markings on the map.  "This is the race course in all its simplicity.  A simple, straight-forward route," she said before pointing at the blue lines.  "These are the main short cuts used.  As always short cuts are encouraged so long as you don't miss a checkpoint."  She then pointed at the purple lines.  "These are the risky shortcuts, more hazardous than the ones in blue."  Next she pointed at the red lines.  "And these are the insane tracks.  Don't use them unless you KNOW you can handle stuff like jumping across buildings or evade high density traffic, and such."

      Tsuyosa paled and looked at Takato.  "T-this sounds dangerous...," he whispered.

      "Jumping across buildings?" Takato repeated, boggled.  "What kind of race is this?!"

      "Heh... they're making ChibiBa's job way too easy," Impmon snickered.

      "As always, attacking your opponent, while not suggested, is allowed as long as you don't incapacitate them, hit them in the privates, kill them, or kidnap them," Miss Referee said, nonplused.  She then glanced at one of the racers in particular as she crossed her arms.  "I'm looking in your direction Killer Kaiki."

      "Hey, how many times do I have to say it's not my fault my friends decided to try and help me win?" 'Killer Kaiki' said, feigning innocence.  "I didn't know anything about it."

      "... I don't like this..." Tsuyosa whimpered.  "This sounds even more dangerous!"

      "I don't like it either...," Takato whispered.  "This must be why Sera kept thinking we were going to freak out!"

      "You're the reason why we have the no outside help rule," Miss Referee pointed out before looking at the rest of the skaters.  "Same for the rest of you.  No outside help.  It's just you against everyone else in this race."

      "I wonder if that rule applies to digimon too?" Impmon chuckled.  "Probably not!"

      "Should something happen such as an accident, kidnapping, or the police go after you, blow the whistle you have been given," Miss Referee said as she lifted up the lone whistle she left remaining around her neck.  "Racers, when you hear the whistle you are to immediately blow yours to alert all of us.  After that we'll all disperse and regroup at a later date.  If you get arrested, you all know my number so I can make bail for you out of the treasury."

      "... Police?  ... Accidents?" Takato mumbled softly, a worried look on his face.  "This race is insane!"

      "H-hah...," Tsuyosa nodded slowly.

      "Those that who don't want to participate, turn in your whistles now and go over by those two boys over there and watch," Miss Referee said as she pointed at Tsuyosa and Takato.  A few of the skaters gave their whistles to her before they went to various places on the grassy knoll to sit down and watch.

      "Before we begin, it's time to get the private betting over with," Miss Referee said after putting the whistles down onto the nearby park bench.  She crossed her arms and waited as a number of the skaters talked with each other.

      Akkenai inched over to Sera, smiling at her lecherously.  "Hey Seeeeraaaa," he crooned.  "If I win, how about I get a date from you?"

      "..."  Instead of answering, Sera kicked Akkenai's ankle again, sending him sprawling onto the pavement with a yelp.

      "Oww...," Akkenai whined.

      "Private betting?" Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.

      Akkenai staggered to his feet and glanced over at Tsuyosa.  "How about Tsuuuyoooosaaa then?" he asked, grinning evilly at the younger boy.  "I'll show you I'm not a klutz!"

      "H-huh?" Tsuyosa blinked, suddenly aware that someone was speaking to him.

      "You can't bet for something like that!" Takato snapped at Akkenai.

      "Why not?" Akkenai asked, feigning innocence.

      "Tsuyosa's not just a piece of property to be taken like some prize!" Takato glared at Akkenai.

      "Besides, he's not racing, so that bet's invalid," Miss Referee calmly pointed out.  She then turned to the other racers.  "If everyone's ready, then racers to your marks!"

      The skaters all approached the starting line, most of them crouching over as they awaited the signal to begin the race.

      Akkenai took a position further back than the others oddly enough, crouching behind Sera.  "... You know, Sera, those shorts of yours make it hard to admire your butt," he commented sadly.

      "..." Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then made a disgusted face.

      "..." Takato grimaced, wondering how anyone could be so much of a pervert.

      "... Why do you think I started wearing them?" Sera snapped, glaring back at Akkenai.  "Stop staring at me!"

      "But I like the view from back here," Akkenai said 'innocently'.  "I could get in front of you, though, so I can watch your breasts bounce instead!"

      Sera's eye twitched.

      "Ready?" Miss Referee asked as she picked up the flag and raised it over her head, ignoring the antics of the racers.  Without waiting for a response, she quickly threw down the flag.  "GO!"

      Instantly the skaters tore off down the sidewalk, some immediately going towards each other and throwing punches.

      Tsuyosa stared, looking quite uncomfortable, as Sera zipped off down the 'track'.

      One of the older, muscular-looking guys swung his elbow at Sera's head.  Just as it seemed as if she was about to get hit, she apparently tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and wobbled forward, flailing her arms and barely ducking underneath the guy's arm.  She then ended up off-balance and apparently accidentally ramming her elbow into the guy's side.

      As the guy staggered, Sera righted herself and bolted ahead of him before he could recover.

      "Did... Sera do that on purpose?" Takato blinked.

      "... I don't know," Tsuyosa stared.

      Another one of the racers caught up to Sera and shoved her forward, knocking her off-balance again and causing her leg to shoot upwards and kick them in the jaw.  At the same time, a female had attempted to grab Sera, but ended up getting air instead as the shove forced Sera's upper body downwards.  Sera rose up before the girl moved away, and hit her in the jaw as well with her helmet.

      "..."  Takato blinked slowly.

      "... Whoa," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... Yep, I'd say Sera did that on purpose," Takato commented.

      Impmon bristled and stomped his foot with barely controlled rage.  "If they hit her... I'll... I'll...," he fumed.

      Sera continued dodging attacks by apparently tripping and accidentally hitting them in retaliation.  She never initiated an attack, and kept trying to dodge everyone else to get ahead.

      Soon the racers were out of sight of those that were watching near the starting line.

      "... I hope she's okay...," Tsuyosa slumped against the tree.

      "... It looks like she will...," Takato muttered.  He then glanced at Tsuyosa.  "... Hey... Tsuyosa..."

      "... Yeah?" Tsuyosa looked up.

      "... Why didn't you stand up to Akkenai... like you did to me when we first met?" Takato asked carefully.

      "..." Tsuyosa looked down at the ground.  "... That's different."

      "How so?" Takato blinked.

      "... Just look at him!" Tsuyosa muttered.  "He's twice my size... not to mention older than me and stronger than me.  You're at least around my age... and even then, I'm no match for you or anyone else.  Akkenai could kill me if he wanted to."

      "Tsuyosa...," Takato reached out and put his hand on Tsuyosa's shoulder in attempt to comfort the other boy.  "You don't have to be afraid of him.  We won't let him hurt you.  In fact, ChibiBa would beat the crap out of him if he tried."  Takato laughed slightly, trying to encourage Tsuyosa to do the same.

      "... But what if ChibiBa isn't there?" Tsuyosa muttered.  "... Remember what happened at the circus the first time... and then when I was kidnapped?  He wasn't there... and I couldn't do anything...  I can't do anything.  I guess you were right.  I do hide behind him."

      "... Tsuyosa...," Takato sighed.  "Just because bad things happen sometimes doesn't mean that you can't do anything.  ...  I'm sorry about what I said....  I didn't mean it....  I was just angry at the time."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned forward, propping his chin on his arms as he rested them against his knees. "... Why...?  Why are you sorry?  It's true...  I'm just a big-mouthed kid who can't do anything and has to hide behind someone who actually CAN.  I can't defend myself...  ChibiBa defends me...  You were right.  There's nothing to be sorry over,"

      Takato scooted over to Tsuyosa so that they were sitting close enough for him to put his arm around the other boy.  "Tsuyosa...  You're not like that," Takato said firmly.  "It's not your fault that you're not that strong."

      Tsuyosa flinched slightly, then relaxed and looked at Takato.  "... A lot of things are my fault," Tsuyosa muttered.

      As Takato tried to figure out what to say to make Tsuyosa feel better, he couldn't help but marvel at how different Tsuyosa was than when they first met.  That arrogant and cold persona was obviously a barrier, and the Tsuyosa Takato was seeing now was his true self.  Takato frowned as he realized that Tsuyosa probably had to have been through a lot to make that barrier in the first place.  Tsuyosa must not have had many pleasant experiences if he needed such a strong barrier to hide such a vulnerable self.

      Idly Takato felt a bit privileged to know the true Tsuyosa.  It seemed unlikely that many did.

      Takato just wished he could do something to help Tsuyosa feel better.


	26. The Cute, The Cuddly, And The Moronic

Authors' Notes: Sorry everyone that this chapter's a day late.  x_x  Between my health, my monitor dying, FF.net going down at the most inopportune times, and computer crashes, I've been having a very trying time.  Anyway, despite the lateness of it all, we hope you enjoy this chapter.  As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and all other new characters, along with this story, belong to us (even Akkenai), so no stealing!

As a note for those of you that worry about the versions, there's only one version of this chapter, so nothing to worry about.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 20: The Cute, The Cuddly, And The Moronic_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "LOOK OUT BELOW!"

      Sera leapt off the edge of a railing at the side of a street overpass, her legs bent upwards as high as possible so she could get as much hang time in the air as possible.  She landed somewhat gracefully onto the pavement after straightening her legs, and quickly slipped the gold ring she snagged, which had been dangling from a piece of rope from an overhead street sign, onto her wrist.

      "Yes!  Got one!" she smiled before righting herself completely and quickening her pace.

      A short distance behind her, Akkenai crouched slightly, readying to lunge at the unsuspecting skater.  "SEEERAAAA!" he crooned loudly as he leapt at Sera, arms reaching out to grab her.

      Suddenly, and without warning, a steel ladder to a fire escape just above Sera snapped free. It swung about and hit Akkenai full in the face.

      Akkenai yowled loudly as he was hit and fell over, his nose bloody once again.

      Sera blinked as she glanced back at Akkenai as he fell over.  "Huh...  Oh well, good luck for me," she smiled and continued quickly on her way.

      A high-pitched cackle issued through the air as a shadow darted across the rooftops, out of sight.

      Sera blinked and glanced upwards for a moment.  "...What?" she muttered aloud.

      Silence.

      Sera wondered if Impmon was the one who made that ladder fall and hit Akkenai.  While she would have normally disliked interference, she had to feel grateful that Akkenai was stopped from grabbing her.  She only hoped that, if it was Impmon, that he wouldn't get caught.

      Akkenai staggered to his feet, silently cursing his misfortune as he quickly darted after Sera.  He took a short cut through heavy traffic as he did so, risking getting hit, so he could catch up with her.

      After nearly getting hit a few times by numerous cars, he managed to turn off down an alleyway and caught up enough that he was only a few yards away from Sera.  He crouched slightly as he tried to force himself to go faster than he was.

      Sera didn't look behind her as she continued racing along, so she didn't know Akkenai had gotten back up and was catching up to her.  She took a turn towards a broken down bridge that was littered with warning signs blocking entrance to it, which she jumped over.

      Moments later, as Sera had gotten to the other side, Akkenai skated onto the bridge, knocking over the warning signs in order to gain access instead of jumping over them like Sera had.

      Just as Akkenai made to cross the bridge, a sickening crunch issued from deep underneath.  With a shuddering heave, the bridge collapsed in to the water below, like a stack of cards.

      Akkenai blinked at the sound, confused at first, before the bridge started to collapse.  He screamed shrilly in fright as he flailed his arms wildly, and tried to get off the bridge quickly.  His efforts were in vain, however, as he fell into the water along with the bridge.

      A shadow darted across the ground, just by Sera, but was too quick to actually be noticed.

      Sera blinked and whirled around in time to see the last of the bridge fall.  "... What the!?" she gasped.

      A demonic, gleeful cackle issued from near Sera, only to cease just as mysteriously as it had come.

      "... Okay, that's definitely not Impmon," Sera muttered.  She paused to peer over the side of the railing near the river, seeking out who screamed.  Her fears were quelled as she saw Akkenai flopping about in the water, looking fit to be tied.  "Oh good, it was just the pervert," she sighed with relief.  She then turned and continued on her way.

      "... I wonder if that was ChibiBa?" Sera wondered silently.  "... Nah, couldn't be...  He only protects Tsuyosa."

      "..."  Sera hummed thoughtfully.  "Then again...  Akkenai DID molest Tsuyosa in front of him..."

      A gleeful cackle issued as an entire dump truck suddenly fell in to the river, barely missing Akkenai.

      Sera, however, was too far away by that time to notice.

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed as he leaned back against the tree he and Tsuyosa were sitting next to.  It seemed as if nothing he'd say would cheer the other boy up.

      Tsuyosa slowly rocked himself, staring quietly at the grass.  He refused to look at Takato, or anyone for that matter.

       Miss Referee was standing atop the park bench next to the finish line as she peered through her binoculars, watching the racers from a good distance away.  "My, the race track seems unusually dangerous today," she commented, her voice as monotone as ever.

      Tsuyosa didn't even flinch, either not listening or too depressed to really care.

      Takato frowned, at the news and at Tsuyosa's reaction.  "Tsuyosa...," Takato said quietly as he touched Tsuyosa's hand.  "... Do... do you want to talk about it?"

      "..." Tsuyosa shifted slightly, then let out a low sigh.  "... I'm sorry."

      "What for?" Takato blinked, confused.

      "... Everything."

      "Tsuyosa...  You don't have to be sorry," Takato said gently as he leaned in closer to the other boy.

      "..." Tsuyosa fidgeted and slowly glanced at Takato.  "... Why?"

      Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.  "I've told you before...  I understand you now," Takato explained.  "You don't have to feel bad about what happened in the past.  I've already forgiven you, you know."

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then tilted his head.  "..."

      "It's true," Takato continued.  "I know that you just lashed out at me, because I was healthy and had friends, and you resented me for it.  But you don't have to.  You've got friends now.  Friends who don't care if you're sick or not."

      "..." Tsuyosa's eyes softened slightly.  "... I..."

      Takato leaned in even closer, and wrapped his arm around Tsuyosa's shoulders.  "So don't feel bad, okay?" Takato smiled.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato quietly, then smiled back a small but warm smile.  "... Okay..."

      Takato smiled even more brightly at Tsuyosa, happy that he was able to cheer the other boy up.

      Impmon paced back and forth, oblivious to the boys as he fretted over the current situation.

      "Damn, damn, DAMN!  ChibiBa better protect Sera or I'll... DO SOMETHING!" Impmon huffed, angrily.

      Impmon knew he would only get in ChibiBa's way.  Impmon may be good at an occasional stalking, but he always ended up seen or caught in the end.  He knew how to pull something off, but not how to get away afterwards.  Normally people would run, but Impmon knew that if anyone saw him, then they would blow the whistle and everything would be ruined.

      At least ChibiBa seemed like an expert in the art of keeping himself hidden; otherwise, Tsuyosa would have known a lot sooner about his digimon's little 'squirrel traps'.

      "Aaaaaaand here they come," Miss Referee suddenly said as she lowered her binoculars.  She held her stopwatch in one hand and the flag in the other as she kept her eyes trained on the toilet paper that had been strung between two trees after the race had started.

      Takato blinked and turned to look as a few of the racers appeared from around the bend a short distance away.  Surprisingly, Sera was leading the pack by a good margin.

      Tsuyosa looked up and blinked, watching Sera as she skated ahead of the others.

      As the racers skated by, a black figure darted across the rooftops and came to a stop on a fire escape just above them.

      It seemed that, because the end of the race was so close, the fighting between the skaters had increased drastically.  Many of them sported numerous cuts and bruises as they fought each other.  Unfortunately, because Sera was in the lead, most of them were concentrating on her.  Some even went so far as to pick up roadside debris and throw it at the blond skater.

      Sera couldn't take the time to think about anything as she franticly dodged attack after attack and tried to race for the finish line at the same time.  Between her wild, almost accidental, attempts at dodging and her concentrating at speed, she was unable to retaliate with attacks of her own.

      Suddenly, the figure surged forward and kicked a dumpster.  The dumpster wobbled, then suddenly tilted over as a cat shrieked fearfully.  As the dumpster fell over, it spewed trash all over the road just behind Sera.

      That was when Takato caught a glimpse of what the figure really was.

      "... ChibiBa?!" Takato gasped.

      "Huh?  Where?" Tsuyosa looked up, quickly.

      However, by that time, ChibiBa was gone.

      "Over there," Takato said as he pointed at the fallen dumpster.  "... Or at least he was there."

      "Very dangerous race today," Miss Referee commented as she had looked up after hearing the dumpster crash.

      Some of the more experienced skaters weren't too hindered by the garbage, dodging about the debris or leaping over it, while those that were less prepared ended up falling over into the trash.

      "... In the dumpster?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "Why would he be there?"

      "..." Takato shook his head.  "I think I know why it's so 'dangerous' today."  He couldn't help but pity the skaters a little.  ChibiBa was brutal when he was out to protect someone.

      "Oh?  Why?" Tsuyosa blinked.  He then paused and glanced at the mass of skaters.  "I don't see Akkenai!" he whispered, relieved.

      Takato blinked and looked around among the skaters.  "... I hope ChibiBa didn't kill him," he muttered quietly to himself.

      "Hm?" Tsuyosa looked at Takato, confused.

      Takato was about to respond when a sudden cry interrupted him.

      "Tsuuuu-chaaaaan!"

      "Huh?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened.

      It was in that instant that a soaking wet Akkenai lunged at Tsuyosa from behind, glomping onto the poor boy and getting him wet.

      "Akkenai?!" Takato whirled angrily towards the teenager.

      "Comfort meeee," Akkenai crooned as he ignored Takato.  After he climbed out of the river he went straight back to the park and didn't bother trying to follow the rest of the racers to each checkpoint first.  "I lost the race and Sera's still racing, so I need some nookie to feel better and can't get any from her!"

      Tsuyosa squeaked, then shivered.  "EEYAH!  That's COLD!"

      "Let Tsuyosa go right now!" Takato growled, glaring at Akkenai.

      "You can warm me up!" Akkenai said cheerfully, completely ignoring Takato in favor of Tsuyosa.

      "Huh?" Tsuyosa looked up at Akkenai, confused.

      "How about some hot buttered popcorn sex?" Akkenai asked 'innocently'.  "That'll REALLY warm me up!"

      "... You want to have sex with popcorn?" Tsuyosa looked at Akkenai, blankly.

      "If you're naked and covered in it, sure!" Akkenai replied, grinning lecherously.

      "... HAH?!" Tsuyosa's eyes widened as his cheeks flushed.

      "Let go of Tsuyosa!" Takato repeated as he grabbed one of Akkenai's hands and attempted to pry it off of Tsuyosa.

      It was then that Akkenai actually seemed to notice Takato.  He eyed the younger boy in agitation.  "Go away, brat," he said irritably as he raised an arm in an obvious gesture of wanting to hit Takato.

      "ROOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!"

      Suddenly, Impmon lunged up behind Akkenai and bit his arm.

      Akkenai halted instantly before he screamed shrilly, and jumped a good meter or so into the air.  "GOBLIN!!!" he yowled as he flailed his arm, screaming his head off.

      Impmon chewed quickly, then suddenly jumped out of sight just as the other spectators turned to stare at Akkenai.

      "GOBLIN!!!" Akkenai repeated before he ran away screaming.

      The rest of the spectators just stared at Akkenai as if he were insane.

      "... Whatever crap you're on, Akkenai the Hentai, cut the dosage," Miss Referee observed blandly as she watched Akkenai flee from the park.  She then went back to concentrating on the race.

      "Takato... are you okay?" Tsuyosa gasped as he darted over to the other boy.

      "I... I'm fine," Takato blinked slowly, realizing that if it wasn't for Impmon, Akkenai would have attacked him.  Takato shook his head slightly to clear it, then looked at Tsuyosa.  "Are... are you?"

      "Yeah... but... but he was going to hurt you..." Tsuyosa shook, violently.

      "I'm fine...," Takato repeated.  "Impmon stopped him...  So it's okay..."

      "But what if he hadn't?" Tsuyosa whispered.  "It'd be my fault..."

      "No...  It would've been Akkenai's fault," Takato said firmly.

      "... But I got you involved," Tsuyosa stared down at the grass.

      "No.  I got myself involved," Takato pointed out.  "I didn't have to try to stop him.  I chose to do that on my own."

      "..." Tsuyosa didn't know how to respond to that.

      The other spectators started cheering loudly, rooting for their favorites, as the racers came upon the finish line.  Miss Referee raised the flag high into the air as she watched the finish line intently.

      One of the racers, in an attempt to get ahead of Sera, who was still leading the pack, kicked her foot.  Sera yowled as she flailed her arms, as the kick sent her forward, off-balance.  One of her hands smacked the other racer's face, stunning him for a moment.  She ended up skating backwards as the momentum carried her past the finish line just ahead of everyone else.  She squealed as she tried to stop, but still kept going until she ended up crashing into some bushes.

      Tsuyosa looked up slightly to blink at Sera, then fumbled up.  "U-um..."

      "Sera?" Takato blinked.

      Miss Referee waved the flag and observed her stop watch as the rest of the racers crossed the finished line.  She hopped off the bench once everyone had finished and walked among them, looking at the rings a few of them carried.  She ended up stopping before Sera and glanced down at the fallen skater.

      "...  Stunning finish as always," Miss Referee drawled as she reached out and grabbed Sera's arm, yanking her up and out of the bushes with surprising strength.  Miss Referee then turned to the others, still holding Sera's arm in the air, which sported three gold rings, as well as a silver, and a copper.  "The winner, and champion for the third year in a row, is the Graceful Klutz, Suicidal Sera!"

      Sera eyed Miss Referee for her use of the nickname 'Graceful Klutz', but didn't make any comment, as that would just encourage teasing.  Instead she concentrated on catching her breath.

      "Is she okay...?" Tsuyosa squeaked.

      "I think so," Takato blinked.

      Tsuyosa let out a sigh of relief and sat down with a grunt on to the grass.

      A small, happy humming issued as ChibiBa trotted up behind Tsuyosa and jumped in to his backpack, zipping it up before anyone noticed.

      Tsuyosa blinked, then glanced back.

      "Where were you?  You missed the race..." Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... Bathroom break."

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blushed.

      "Akkenai came back," Impmon pointed out as he peered down from the tree.

      "..." ChibiBa peeked out, cheek twitching.  "Did you kill him?"

      "No, but I made him squeal like a girl."

      "Good."

      Tsuyosa blinked, uncertain of how to react to that.

      Miss Referee took of the 'gold medal' from around her neck and put it around Sera's with much ceremony.  She then turned to everyone else.  "That takes care of the last Kamikaze Races of Insanity 5000 until the fall!  Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to the challenge races and grudge matches between members," she announced.

      Sera skated over to the Tamers after she turned in the rings she gained and sat down next to them, obviously sitting out of the next race as it was being set up.  "... So...  What did you think?" she asked slowly, wary of their reactions.  The last time she brought a couple of friends with her to watch the races, they didn't react well at all to it.

      "Akkenai sucks," Tsuyosa muttered as he picked off bits of grass that clung to his soaking wet uniform.

      Takato nodded in agreement.

      "Well, yeah, that's a given," Sera agreed.  "... But I meant about the race...."

      "They were trying to kill you!" Tsuyosa stared at Sera.

      "Dangerous race!" Impmon agreed.

      "But more so for others," ChibiBa growled deeply.

      "What on Earth would possess you to go through that?" Takato asked as he stared at Sera.

      "It might have been fun if not for them attacking you," Tsuyosa muttered.  "They... they actually wanted to hurt you!"

      "... They weren't trying to kill me...  Just slow me down," Sera pointed out, sweat-dropping.

      "You were lucky," Tsuyosa muttered.  "I wonder why that dumpster fell, though?"

      ChibiBa whistled, cutely.

      "... Gee, I wonder," Takato muttered as he glanced at ChibiBa suspiciously.

      "Well... I've never had a serious accident while racing," Sera commented as she wiped away some perspiration from her forehead that was left over from the race.

      ChibiBa blinked at Takato innocently and stuck out his tongue.

      "That's good," Tsuyosa sighed.  "But... why would you race like that, anyway?"

      "... Because," Sera shrugged as if that said it all.

      Tsuyosa blinked but said nothing.

      "Because...?" Takato blinked.

      "... I just decided to try it one day and just kept on doing it after that," Sera said as if that explained everything, then she lay back on the grass with a sigh and relaxed.  The entire race had been very exhausting.

      "But why-," Takato started to ask, but was interrupted.

      "Um... Sera...  Do you think you could-," Tsuyosa ventured suddenly.  However, he paused in mid-sentence and faltered.  "... Er, never mind..."

      Sera blinked at Tsuyosa, a thoughtful expression crossing her features, before she sat back up again.  "... Hey, Tsuyosa, would you like me to teach you how to skate?" she asked as she tilted her head.

      "I... I don't think I could learn," Tsuyosa muttered in response.

      Takato blinked at the sudden topic change, but decided to let the matter drop.

      "Sure you could," Sera smiled wryly.  "If a klutz can do it, then so could you."

      Tsuyosa blinked, then flushed slightly.

      "... Maybe..."

**_*~*_**

      "And that's the last one."

      Sera sighed once she set down a full bag of groceries onto the kitchen counter along with numerous others.

      "Mmmm," Impmon munched happily on an apple as he sat on the counter by the groceries.

      "You know, you're going to more than double our food bill," Sera teased before she started emptying out the bags.

      "Heh, heh," Impmon grinned.

      "Mind helping me put some of this away?" Sera glanced at Impmon after folding up the bag she just emptied.

      "... In my stomach?" Impmon grinned.

      "No," Sera smirked.  "I mean in the fridge and the pantry."

      "Oh," Impmon pouted, then shrugged.  "Fine, fine."

      Impmon jumped down from the counter and proceeded to put the groceries in the pantry and fridge.  He had a good idea of where it went, seeing as he ate the food that they were now replacing.

      "Thanks, Impmon," Sera smiled as she continued emptying out each grocery bag and then folding them up once done.

      Impmon hummed as he put the food away, resisting the urge to take a nibble here or there out of the food.  However tempting, he figured he might as well leave something for later.

      The two made short work of the task, and soon all of the groceries were neatly tucked away in their proper places.

      Sera dusted her hands off after putting the empty paper sacks into the recycle bin.  "I think we're doing a good job of being partners so far, don't you?" she commented as she smiled at Impmon.

      "Guess so," Impmon grinned, then blinked and tilted his head.  "... But I still don't get it.  Why do you like skating like that?"

      "..."  Sera blinked, caught off-guard by the question.  She paused for a moment, debating how to answer that question.  She couldn't just shrug it off like she had when Takato and Tsuyosa had asked her in the park; Impmon was her partner, and she should be honest with him.  "Well...," she began before pausing again for a few moments.  "To be honest there's a number of reasons I guess.  ...  I started for a couple reasons, and I continue because of some different ones."

      "What're those reasons?" Impmon blinked.

      Sera tapped her chin as she tried to figure out how to explain it.  As she thought, she sat down on a chair by the counter.  "Well...  I guess because... it was something unique," she said slowly, trying to properly explain her thoughts.  "... Something that you wouldn't expect... and that'd catch attention."

      "Has it anything to do with your parents?" Impmon blinked.  He glanced around, slowly.  "I haven't seen them once... not since I got here.  Are they away?"

      Sera blinked at Impmon's question and then nodded slowly.  "Yeah...  They're executives at Digital Max, and their work keeps them away a lot," she explained, voice carefully neutral.  "They only really come here to sleep and to make back-ups of their work anymore."

      "..." Impmon tilted his head.  "... I see."

      "Mom's in Rome right now, I think, and won't be back for another day or so," Sera continued.  "And dad's in New York for about a month."

      "... ..."  Impmon didn't know where those places were, but he figured they were far away.

      Sera leaned back slightly and stared up at the ceiling.  "After that it's more business trips.  If not for the fact that they never seem to go on trips anywhere together, I'd probably have some brothers and sisters, or be moved around with them."  She sighed then blinked and shook her head.  "Sorry, I'm getting off topic, aren't I?" she asked as she glanced at Impmon.

      "... Sounds pretty on topic to me," Impmon muttered as he looked at Sera.

      "..."  Sera looked back at Impmon for a few moments before she diverted her gaze in another direction.  "... Anyway...  I mostly do it now to defend my title as champ," she said after a few moments.

      "Yeah," Impmon leaned against the counter, tapping his chin.  "... But what about that Akkenai bastard?"

      "..."  Sera grimaced.  "Well, I'm not exactly sure why, but ever since I started high school he's decided to stalk me."

      "..."  Impmon scowled.  "... Too bad he lived through those squirrel traps."

      "Squirrel traps?" Sera blinked at Impmon.

      "... It's what ChibiBa calls it when he tries to-," Impmon paused, as if searching for the right word, then smirked.  "... Make you sorry."

      Impmon leaned back and beamed.

      "They're not assassination attempts!" Impmon wiggled his claws in a quoting manner.  "They're 'squirrel traps'."

      Sera giggled at that.  "Oh, I see," she smiled.

      "ChibiBa doesn't like squirrels!" Impmon observed, innocently.

      "So I see," Sera giggled.

      Impmon grinned slightly, then narrowed his eyes.  "But why's he after that Tengoku kid too?  Or is that a new thing?"

      Impmon paused, then smirked again.

      "It'd have to be new... considering he's still alive."

      "Yeah, as far as I know it's a new thing."  Sera tilted her head slightly.  "I hope it doesn't last.  Sometimes Akkenai goes after other people too, but loses interest after a while for some reason."  She crossed her arms.  "I'd like to know what their secret is."

      "He said something about 'soft and fluffy'.  What the hell does that mean?"

      Sera blinked and then grimaced.  "That's something Akkenai comments a lot whenever he...," she coughed and scowled, "... grabs onto me sometimes."  She paused for a moment.  "If he said it around Tsuyosa..."  She paused again and shook her head.  "I don't know why he'd say it, considering Tsuyosa's a boy, but that could mean he's got more than a passing interest in him."

      "... His hands need to be chopped off," Impmon glowered.

      Sera nodded in agreement, frowning, as she kept her arms crossed over her chest.  "I don't know why the school just lets him get away with some of the things he does."

      "I'll say this much," Impmon grinned, dryly.  "His luck ran out when he got himself on ChibiBa's squirrel list."

      Impmon tilted his head and grunted.  "Or on mine."

      Sera giggled and smiled brightly at Impmon.  "I'm glad to hear it."

      Impmon blinked up at Sera, then blushed slightly.  "..."

      Without warning, Sera then reached out to hug Impmon.  "I'm glad you're my partner," she whispered into his ear.

      "..."  Impmon's cheeks exploded with crimson.  "Y-yeah, w-well... I'm... glad too..."

      Sera smiled even more brightly at that, and then kissed Impmon's cheek.

      Impmon tensed as his eyes widened like saucers.

      Sera giggled, smiling, before she covered her mouth and let out a soft yawn.  "I'm tired," she muttered.  "How about we go to bed now?"

      "..." Impmon flushed brilliantly.  "... You go on ahead...  I've... got to take a walk.  You know... to... think."

      "Hmm?  Why?" Sera blinked.

      "... ..." Impmon coughed and shrugged his shoulders.  "Habit."

      "Oh, okay.  Try not to get into too much trouble," Sera smiled before she released Impmon from the hug.

      Impmon nodded repeatedly, then scurried over to a window.  He paused, then glanced over his shoulder and grinned.

      "Sorry about the alarm," he said, then whirled and leapt out of the window before Sera could respond.

      Sera blinked, wondering what Impmon meant by that.

**_*~*_**

      Takato snored quietly, a small smile on his face, as he slept next to Guilmon in his bed.  Guilmon had stayed the night over, as Takato's parents felt bad about nearly poisoning Guilmon with his father's bizarre recipes.

      Guilmon snorted and rolled over in his sleep, snuggling up next to his Tamer.  "No more bread...," he mumbled in his sleep.  He sniffed the air as a new scent caught his attention, despite him being unconscious.  His gold eyes fluttered open, piercing the dark with a gentle glow.

      Suddenly, a crash issued from downstairs.

      "Oh, CURSE these high heels!"

      Guilmon shot up with a yelp, his wing-ears perking up instantly at the sound.  Immediately he started shaking Takato with his claws.  "Takato!  Takato!" he called, trying to rouse his Tamer from sleep.

      "I'll... save you... Princess Tsu...," Takato slurred as he rolled over.  "I'll get that muffin king..."

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon pressed his nose against Takato's ear and snorted a blast of steamy, moist air.

      "... Hmm...?  Wha...?" Takato mumbled, somewhat irritably, as he cracked an eye open.  "Guilmon...?  What is it...?"

      "Digimon!" Guilmon hissed, his eyes glowing.

      Instantly Takato sat up, fully awake.  "Digimon?!  Here?!" he whispered as loudly as he dared.

      Guilmon hopped down from the bed and prowled towards the door.  "Downstairs!"

      Once he found his D-Arc, Takato quickly grabbed a handful of cards and went to join Guilmon.

      "Oh!  Oh!  Look!  They have little pastries with jelly in them!"

      "But they stain so much!"

      "Then don't eat like a pig."

      Takato blinked at the voices as he cautiously crept down the stairs with Guilmon, both being careful to be a silent as possible.

      "Oh, you're horrible!  Just HORRIBLE!"

      "Don't eat that!  It'll ruin your girlish figure!"

      "But I don't have a girlish figure to begin with!"

      Takato peered around the corner carefully once he and Guilmon were at the bottom of the stairs.

      "Oooh!  They've got DONUTS!"

      "Oh, I LOVE donuts!" An Ogremon wearing tight black women's lingerie squealed.  He wobbled precariously on some black high heels, trying to walk around the bakery.

      "Don't touch the chocolate ones," a Numemon warned as it oozed its way through the bakery, carrying a sack filled with pastries.  "Those wreak HAVOK with your complexion!"

      "Do we have the snacks the boss wanted?" Ogremon asked, worriedly.  "You KNOW what'll happen if we don't bring back the right ones!"

      "Yes, but let's take everything else too just in case.  It's 'that time of the month' you know," the Numemon said, a tinge of fear in its voice.

      "I know... I know..." Ogremon whimpered, then paused and blinked.  "By the way... what exactly IS 'that time of the month'?"

      "I have no idea," the Numemon shrugged.

      "... What's a MONTH, for that matter?"

      Numemon merely shrugged.

      Guilmon bristled and crouched, glancing between the Numemon and Ogremon.  His tail lashed with irritation as he waited for Takato to give him the signal to attack.

      Takato glanced at Guilmon and nodded to him, before he stepped out from around the corner.  "Hey, you!" he yelled at the Numemon and Ogremon.  "Put those pastries back!"

      Ogremon jumped, startled, and turned to stare.  "EEK!  It's a boy!"

      "He's peeping on us!" Numemon squealed in horror.

      "YOU DIRTY MINDED CHILD!" Ogremon shrieked, covering his bra with his arms.

      Takato face-faulted.

      "STOP UNDRESSING ME WITH YOUR EYES!" Ogremon roared.

      "And I'm not even wearing my best thong!" Numemon whined, aghast, as it tried to use the bag of pastries to cover itself.

      Takato fumbled to his feet and stared at the two digimon incredulously.  "Hey... HEY!  I'm not peeping on you!  This is my house!" he protested.  "And you're stealing bread my parents and me made!"

      "You... you PERVERT!" Ogremon huffed as he tried to scoot out of sight.  "How dare you!  You and your ROVING eyes!"

      "I'm so embarrassed!" Numemon squealed as it tried to do the same.

      "... I'M NOT A PERVERT!" Takato protested, blushing faintly at the accusation.  "PUT DOWN THAT BREAD RIGHT NOW!"

      "I WILL NOT UNDRESS FOR YOU!" Ogremon pointed at Takato, angrily.  "You dastardly little boy!  What is the world coming to!?"

      "Oh, it's such a tragedy!  I'll bet he wants to do HORRIBLE, DIRTY things with us as well!" Numemon sobbed.

      "And he even came down here in his UNDERWEAR, too!" Ogremon hissed, blushing.

      "He was probably in the middle of doing DIRTY THINGS with that digimon!" Numemon gasped as it pointed an accusing finger at Guilmon.

      _"**...**"_  Takato twitched, his face flushed with humiliation and anger.  "STOP SAYING THAT SORTA STUFF!  I'M NOT IN MY UNDERWEAR!  I'M IN MY PAJAMAS!" he yowled as he gestured at the garments in question.  "AND I _DON'T_ WANT TO PEEP AT YOU WEIRDOS!  PUT THE BREAD BACK AND STOP SAYING THAT STUFF OR GUILMON AND I WILL MAKE YOU SORRY!"

      However, by the time Takato looked up, the two were already gone.

      "... They run quick!" Guilmon stared.

      "..." Takato let out a scream of frustration as he ran his hands through his hair violently.


	27. Impmon's Busy Day

Authors' Notes: And again the newest chapter of Dreaming to Reality is a bit late.  Not a good trend, I know, but as I warned on my authors' page, I tend to be sick all the time so I can only do what I can when I'm able.  Hopefully this chapter full of Impmon goodness will help make it up to all of you.  ^^;  As anyways Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us, so no stealing.  Oh, and we're back to two version chapters!  In case you're wondering, this is the uncensored version, so if you don't like yaoi and/or don't mind your story censored, you better go see the other version of this chapter, otherwise stay right here and enjoy reading!

      Oh!  And guess what!  Our fic has received its first meaningless, lameresque flame!  Of course, it had no critiquing value and simply attacked for sake of creating a stagnant pile of sludge!  But what can you expect from someone with the IQ and courage of a Numemon?  For SHAME, not even putting a NAME! ;PP

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 21: Impmon's Busy Day_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Impmon muttered quietly to himself as he paced the top of the phone lines.  He had been doing so for hours; walking to the end of the street, then back to Sera's apartment.  He just didn't feel like going anywhere, but also didn't dare go inside.

      Sera was getting ready for school, which irritated him.  He vowed to blow up the replacement alarm, which was apparently her father's, as soon as she left.

      Impmon didn't want to get flashed by Sera again.  Or rather, he did but he didn't.  He didn't understand how he felt, but it irritated him.

      "She's just a human...," Impmon muttered, and then he paused.  He blinked as he remembered their conversation at the circus tent.  Could humans and digimon feel that way about each other?

      Impmon blinked and blushed lightly, then uttered a curse.

      "... Not that I like mushy stuff."

      Impmon blushed even brighter when he remembered how she kissed him; he vaguely remembered similar incidents at the camp, but one of them was just a dream so it didn't count.

      Either way, Impmon decided to just pace outside.

      Besides, it most likely meant nothing since she seemed to cuddle him every chance she got like a stuffed animal.  She most likely just did that to everyone.

      Impmon glanced downwards just in time to see Sera leave the apartment building and walk off to school.

      Impmon paused, and then tapped his chin.  "It's safe to go back in now, I guess," he muttered.  "She should still have food left, right?"

      Idly he noticed a woman with long black hair wearing a black business suit and carrying a black leather briefcase exiting a taxi in front of the apartment building once Sera was out of sight.

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked.  "Who's grandma?"

      'Grandma' apparently had excellent hearing, as she heard Impmon's comment, and looked up sharply towards him.

      "... WHOA!" Impmon blinked repeatedly.

      The woman stared, her crimson eyes widening in shock at the sight of the small purple digimon.  "A DEMON!" she gasped sharply.

      "What?  Where?" Impmon glanced around.

      The woman pointed at Impmon.  "You!  You're the demon!" she announced, backing away slowly from the telephone pole he was on.  "Don't come near me!"

      "... HEY!" Impmon blinked suddenly and pointed at her.  "You dye your hair!"

      "..." The woman stopped backing away and glared at Impmon.  "That's none of your business!"

      "Geez, don't be grouchy, grandma."

      "..." The woman's cheek twitched angrily.  "I'M NOT A GRANDMOTHER!"

      "You're old enough."

      "I'll have you know I'm only thirty seven!" the woman snapped.  Obviously she was too angry with Impmon to be afraid of him anymore.

      "Which means, in woman talk, sixty four," Impmon paused, and then added an after thought.  "AT LEAST."

      The woman fairly bristled at Impmon's comment, glaring daggers into him as her eyes flashed.  "I AM NOT A DAY OVER THIRTY SEVEN AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT YOU LITTLE MONSTER!"

      "Seventy six?"

      The woman growled loudly and spat out a very vile curse involving Impmon and a broomstick.

      "... Why would I want to do that?" Impmon blinked.  "And why are you visualizing me doing it?"

      "... Go back to hell or wherever you came from you little gremlin!" the woman snarled.

      "Naw, the place I come from is called the Digital World," Impmon grinned.  "And I don't want to go back, grandma."

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER!" the woman snapped, completely missing everything else Impmon said.

      "Granny."

      "STOP CALLING ME THAT!"  The woman then let loose another tirade of derogatory language at Impmon.

      "Grandmamma?"

      "OR THAT!"

      "There are other ways of saying grandma that I don't know?"

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!"

      "You're so defensive, grandma."

      "..."  The woman seethed as she glared hatefully at Impmon.  "Why are you here!?  Are you here to eat someone or steal souls, you little demon!?"

      "Are you mad because I guessed your age?"  Impmon tilted his head.  "How close was I?"

      "..."  Instead of answering, the woman took off one of her flats, reared back, and threw it at Impmon.

      Impmon caught it easily, and then eyed the shoe oddly.  "Are you stripping?"

      The woman growled and let loose another string of curses directed at Impmon.

      "Hey, I must have been pretty close!" Impmon marveled.  "You're getting personal!  Whoo, did I guess the exact year or somethin'?"

      The woman let out a shriek of rage and proceeded to throw her other shoe at Impmon as hard as she could.  "LEAVE OR I'LL CALL THE POLICE!!!"

      Impmon caught that shoe too, and then eyed the woman oddly.  "And what would that solve, exactly?" he asked, calmly.  "All I did was guess your age."

      "GO AWAY, HELLSPAWN!" the woman snarled.  "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO INSULT ME!  IN FACT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXIST AT ALL!"

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked.  "What're you talking about?  I have as much right to be here as you, grandma."

      "Demons are unholy creatures from Hell!  Their only purpose is to make humans miserable and to torture them!  Thus they do not have a right to exist!" the woman declared, pointing at Impmon for added emphasis.

      "Well, that's good for them but I'm not a demon," Impmon shrugged.  "So what does that have to do with me?"

      "... You're a walking talking purple horned FREAK with a pitchfork tail and you have the gall to say you're not a demon!?"

      "Horned?" Impmon blinked and felt his head.  "No, just ears.  And I'm not a demon,"

      "Of course you are!  You are obviously not a human or an animal, and as such that means you're unnatural!  Which means the most obvious thing you'd have to be is a demon!"

      "No, I'm not."

      "Yes you are!"

      "Nope, afraid not, granny-toots."

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER SO DON'T CALL ME THAT!"  The woman then paused.  "Or 'toots' for that matter!"

      "If you can call me 'demon' when I'm not, I can call you 'toots' when you're not, grandma."

      "What are you, then!?  AND DON'T CALL ME TOOTS OR GRANDMA!"

      "I'm a digimon."

      "...  Don't be stupid!  Digimon is a card game!"

      "Funny, I don't feel like a card.  But let me check!"  Impmon smirked as he pretended to pinch himself.  "Feels real to me."

      "Do you think I'm an idiot!?  You're obviously not a card game so you're OBVIOUSLY lying!"

      "Actually, not at first... but now I think you're a big idiot, grandma."  Impmon started to balance on the wire, obviously bored.  "But yer just sayin' that 'cause yer mad, huh granny-toots?"

      "..."  The woman snarled at Impmon before she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a cell phone, which she immediately started dialing.

      "Order me a pizza!" Impmon grinned down at the woman.  "Okay?"

      The woman glared at Impmon before she held the cell phone to her ear.  "Hello, police?" she said in a surprisingly calm tone of voice.  "I'd like to report a monster sighting."

      "Hm?"  Impmon glanced at the woman as he walked back and forth just above her, idly.

      "Yes, like the ones on the news reports a few months ago," the woman continued as she kept her angry gaze trained on Impmon.  "It's small and purple with horns and a pitchfork tail."

      "I don't have horns, granny-toots."

      The woman ignored Impmon as she gave the police the address of the apartment complex.

      "Don't forget my pizza, grandma," Impmon called as he twirled on his heel a few times.

      After a few minutes of conversing with the police, the woman then hung up her cell phone.  "Laugh while you can, demon," she hissed, glaring poisonously at Impmon.  "When the police get here, you won't be able to laugh anymore."

      "Back to the demon thing?" Impmon shrugged, 'sighing'.  "You're delusional, grandma."

      The woman's eye twitched, but she said nothing as she put her cell phone away, then crossed her arms.

      "Oh help!  HELP!" Impmon feigned fear, making his voice high and squeaky like a woman's.  "It was horrible!  I think it was a demon!  Or maybe it was... and it was HUGE... sort of!  And it, oh, well, maybe it didn't actually DO anything, but I was SO scared!"

      "..."  The woman's eye twitched again.  "SHUT UP!" she snapped.

      "Oh boo hoo!" Impmon 'sobbed'.

      The woman spat out a vile curse involving Impmon and a pair of pliers not used in a conventional manner.

      "Eee!  You're a perverted woman!" Impmon gasped, 'horrified'.  "Stop fantasizing!"

      "..."  The woman spat out another curse and debated flinging her briefcase at Impmon.

      Impmon suddenly tensed and looked up just as an ice cream truck drove by slowly, humming out its haunting melody.

      "... WHOA!  ICE CREAM!" Impmon cried, gleefully.

      The woman blinked, surprised.

      Impmon proceeded to dart along the wires after the ice cream trick, humming merrily.  "Ice creeaaaam!"

      "... HEY!  COME BACK HERE SO THE POLICE CAN SHOOT YOU!" the woman snapped, glaring after Impmon.  "... AND GIVE ME BACK MY SHOES!"

      "Grandma, if you expect me to give up ice cream so you can act like an idiot, you can FORGET it!" Impmon cackled.  "And I'm keeping your shoes!"

      "COME BACK HERE!" the woman repeated, shaking a fist at Impmon.

      "Yummy, yummy, yummy, I want ice cream for my tummy!" Impmon replied as he scurried along, turning the corner.

      The woman growled and threw down her briefcase angrily.  Silently she swore that she'd make him pay for insulting her, somehow.

**_*~*_**

      "Maybe this was a bad idea..."

      "Naw, Tsu! It's fine!"

      Tsuyosa looked at the racks of clothes, his expression doubtful.  Rows and rows of bike pants rested in front of him, in tidy rows and organized by size.

      ChibiBa peered out of Tsuyosa's backpack, grinning, as he propped his chin on his Tamer's shoulder.

      "But they're all so... small," Tsuyosa muttered, shifting the bag in his hand that contained his new black and silver skates.

      "I think they're supposed to be," ChibiBa pointed out.

      "But THAT small?" Tsuyosa stared.  "It'll cut off my circulation!"

      "Naw, it's fine!" ChibiBa grinned.

      "I don't know what to get," Tsuyosa muttered.  He blinked and paled when ChibiBa lunged and grabbed a small pair of tight black pants.

      "THESE," ChibiBa practically drooled.

      "... But they're way too small!"

      "No, they're not!" ChibiBa assured Tsuyosa as he silently vowed to burn any pants Tsuyosa bought in addition to his chosen pair.

      "... If you say so," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "Don't worry!  It'll be fun!" ChibiBa nuzzled his Tamer.

      "I'll make a fool of myself," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "Will NOT," ChibiBa retorted.

      "People will laugh."

      "I'll bite their fingers off if they do."

      "... You just won't let me back out, will you?" Tsuyosa glanced at ChibiBa.

      "Nope."

**_*~*_**

      Impmon hummed quietly to himself as he scavenged the refrigerator once more for anything edible.  Having already eaten most of the food, he silently grumbled about the sudden lack of contents and found himself forced to settle for a red apple.

      With a grunt, Impmon closed the door and shoved the apple in his mouth.  However, as he did so, the force of the door caused a little piece of paper to flutter.  Impmon paused to stare at it, noting that the paper had not been there before and was held on rather weakly by a cheap seashell magnet.

      Impmon snatched the paper and peered at it, thoughtfully.

      "Hmmm...," he muttered, then shrugged.  "Eh, who am I kiddin'?  I can't read it anyway."

      The sudden sound of the front door opening caught his attention before he was about to crumple the paper in his claw.

      "I'm home!" came Sera's cheerful voice.

      "Sera!" Impmon looked up and grinned.

      Sera, still dressed in her school fuku, walked into the kitchen moments later, after she had left her shoes in the doorway and had closed and locked the front door behind her.  "Hi Impmon!" she smiled at her partner.  "How was your day?"

      "Boring," Impmon scowled.

      "Sorry about that," Sera apologized.  "But tomorrow's Sunday, which means no school, so we can do something fun then, and tonight too, okay?"

      "When're you going to teach that Tengoku kid how to skate?" Impmon tilted his head.

      "Tomorrow afternoon."  Sera paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "Hey... do you want me to teach you how to skate too?"

      "... Eh?" Impmon blinked at Sera.  "... Uh, I guess?"

      "Great!" Sera smiled brightly, delighted at the prospect.  "It'll be fun, you'll see."

      "I guess," Impmon blinked slowly.

      Sera paused and blinked as she noticed the paper in Impmon's hand.  "Hey... what's that?"

      "I dunno," Impmon shrugged.  "Found it on the 'fridge."

      "..." Sera sighed and took the paper from Impmon.  "... I guess mom or dad must have stopped by while we weren't here," she muttered, her good cheer dropping somewhat as she read the note.

      "..." Impmon didn't want to mention the fact that he never saw them come or leave the apartment.

      "... Looks like I'm stuck babysitting for a few nights," Sera sighed once she had finished reading the note.  "Starting with tonight."

      "... Babysitting?" Impmon arched an eyebrow.

      "..."  Sera paused for a moment before answering, uncertain.  "... I've got to watch Ai and Makoto while my aunt and uncle go out tonight," she said slowly.

      "..." Impmon twitched.

      "... Sorry about this," Sera sighed again.  "My aunt and uncle probably want some time away from the twins, and I get 'volunteered' to baby-sit them whenever possible."

      "... Isn't volunteering, well, voluntary?" Impmon muttered.

      "... Yes, but I'm their only relative that can really spend the time to do it besides their grandma in Hongo," Sera explained.  "Babysitting is kind of expensive, so about a year ago my parents pretty much drafted me to be Ai and Makoto's steady babysitter."

      "..." Impmon scowled.

      "... Sorry about this," Sera repeated apologetically.  "My parents expect me to be responsible, so I'm pretty much stuck with it."

      "What does being forced to baby-sit have to do with being responsible!?" Impmon fumed.

      "Well... I have to watch two kids... and keep them out of trouble... and be the responsible adult," Sera tried to explain.

      "... Like they have any idea what 'responsibility' is," Impmon muttered under his breath.

      "..." Sera paused for a moment, as she had heard what Impmon had said, but decided not to show it.  "... Well... my parents usually tell me this about it...  'Taking care of a child is the ultimate responsibility a person could have, and you can't just get out of it whenever you feel like it or ignore it'," she quoted blandly.

      "..." Impmon's eyes narrowed as a soft growl escaped him.  "Those hypocritical bastards!  How dare they spout that junk and then pull the crap they do!"

      "..." Sera sighed softly as she turned to set her school bag down onto the kitchen counter.  "... My parents are nice people, Impmon... they take care of me...," she muttered, carefully keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

      "Like HELL they do!" Impmon snarled, obviously very upset.

      "..." Sera was silent for a moment, as she didn't want to upset Impmon any further.  "... I don't have to be at my aunt and uncle's house until six, so we can do something together until then," she said, changing the subject.  She then smiled at her partner, doing an admirable job of hiding how she was feeling.  "I can order some takeout if you'd like and we could play video games or something."

      However, Impmon didn't seem to notice as he muttered to himself.  The words 'water balloon' and 'flat tires' occurred repeatedly.

      "..." Sera quickly decided to try and calm Impmon down before he did something drastic.  "... Hey, Impmon... I got some new cards today.  What do you think about me trying them out?"

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked and looked at Sera.

      "Just kidding," Sera smiled.

      "... Huh."  Impmon blinked and itched his chin, wondering what Sera was trying to pull while debating whether to freeze or boil the water balloons before he throws them.

      "... So... do you want me to order some takeout ramen, okonomiyaki, or something else?" Sera asked, trying to distract Impmon.

      "All three," Impmon grinned, then tapped his chin and eyed the window, wondering how high up they were and how it'd affect the water balloons.

      Sera noticed Impmon's look and figured that probably nothing less than lots of tasty food would be able to distract him.  She rooted around inside of her school bag for a few moments before she pulled out her wallet and their D-Arc.  "... Huh.  It actually stayed where I left it for once," she muttered off-handedly to herself as she glanced at the D-Arc.

      "Whaddayamean?" Impmon asked as he looked out the window, judging the distance.

      "Well... ever since I first got our D-Arc, it seems like every time I let it out of my sight, I can never find it again where I left it."  Sera tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "Like if I'd leave it in my school bag, I'd find it later in the bathroom, or on my desk."

      "... Huh."  Impmon blinked.

      "... Maybe Ai and Makoto kept finding it and taking it every time they visited...," Sera mumbled to herself thoughtfully.

      "Naw," Impmon shook his head.  "'Cause it kept appearing for them.  At least, I guess so.  It appeared once on the bus all on its own, so it's probably done it other times too..."

      Sera blinked at Impmon.  "... It kept appearing for them?"  She set her wallet down onto the counter and held their D-Arc in both hands, looking down at it as if expecting something to happen.  "... Why?"

      "Why does the D-Arc do anything?" Impmon shrugged.

      "..."  Sera glanced between Impmon and the D-Arc.  "... Impmon... what happened when you first came to the Real World?"

      "Uh..."  Impmon itched his chin.  "... I was Realized in an empty room in some house.  The D-Arc was on the desk... and no one was there so I walked out and found Ai and Mako-chan.  We ducked back in the room; they grabbed my D-Arc and shoved me in a bag.  Then we went home."

      "..."  Sera tapped her fingers against the D-Arc as she thought over what Impmon told her.  "... It must've been when I first got the D-Arc...," she mused.  "It was before we moved, and Ai and Makoto were staying over at the time while their house was being fumigated."

      Impmon shrugged, as he had no idea what to say.

      "... If not then, then you just appeared for them while they were someplace else," Sera sighed softly.

      Impmon scowled, no longer interested in the conversation as it involved Ai and Mako-chan too much, and trotted over to the window.  "..."

      "..."  Sera noticed Impmon's reaction and decided to switch the conversation away from her cousins.  "... Impmon... did I ever tell you how I got our D-arc?"

      "Nope," Impmon replied.  He didn't want to mention his dream.  As far as he knew, it was just a dream.  With a tap of his chin, he eyed the window suspiciously.  "If you drop a frozen water balloon from this height, would it do serious damage?"

      "..."  Sera walked over to Impmon and kneeled down next to him so that they were eye-level.  "Well... I got it from a dream..."  She shook her head slightly.  "I mean... I thought it was a dream at the time..."  She paused for a moment as she tried to remember the 'dream' as best she could.  "I was in a strange dark place full of glowing green symbols... and then there was a small gold star that suddenly appeared... and when I touched it... your D-Arc appeared before me... and then when I woke up in my bed, I was holding it in my hand."

      "..." Impmon blinked slowly.

      "At the time I didn't really realize that it wasn't just a dream..."  Sera laughed a little, blushing lightly.  "It's funny... because I've always dreamed of becoming a chosen child... ever since I got my first and favorite digimon card... and when I was first given the chance... I guess it was too much of a dream come true that I couldn't really believe it was happening..."

      She paused for a moment then smiled.  "I'm glad I got a second chance to meet you, Impmon."

      "...," Impmon flushed slightly. "... I dunno about all that. I just know it happened... and that whole 'chosen child' stuff sounds a bit too much like fairy tales... and VERY cliché... but..."

      He paused and itched his chin.  "I'm glad I got to meetcha too."

      Sera smiled and pulled Impmon into a warm hug.  "It might be cliché, but you're a dream come true to me," she whispered in his ear.

      "..." Impmon flushed even brighter.

      "Sorry about upsetting you," Sera apologized before she kissed Impmon's forehead.  She then smiled cutely.  "How about that takeout now?"

      "..." Impmon blushed, and then squeaked as his stomach growled.  "... Sure."

      "You're so cute, Impmon," Sera giggled.

      "... You mean cool."

**_*~*_**

      "...  So you're telling us... your bakery got robbed... by cross-dressing digimon?"

      "Yes," Takato sighed.  "I know it's hard to believe, but that's what happened."

      Ruki crossed her arms and looked at Takato, levelly.

      "And they accused you of PEEPING?" she repeated.

      "Yes," Takato repeated, sighing again.

      "... And it wasn't a dream?" Ruki looked at Takato, piercingly.

      "No, it wasn't!  Ask Guilmon!  He saw it too!" Takato resisted the urge to flail his arms in exasperation.

      "They run fast!" Guilmon agreed as he paused long enough to nod sagely.  Then, he turned and chased after Terriermon with a playful growl.

      "... That's bizarre," Ruki scowled.

      "No kidding," Takato muttered as he shook his head.  "I was about ready to tear my hair out."

      "Hmm...  Why would digimon do that?" Jenrya wondered as he tapped his chin thoughtfully.

      "They're insane?" Ruki offered.

      "... Perhaps they were under orders?" Renamon offered from her perch in the tree above them.

      "... That has to be the best possible reason," Jenrya commented.  "But why would someone order that?"

      "We would have to ask them to find that out," Renamon pointed out, calmly.

      "I guess so...," Jenrya frowned as he continued to ponder why anyone would willingly want digimon to dress up in such a kinky way.

      "Maybe they're just perverts," Terriermon quipped before he hopped out of the way of Guilmon's playful lunge.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon reclined on a rooftop, just out of sight.  He glowered down at the yard below him, his tail twitching up and down with agitation.  Beneath him, Ai and Makoto were chasing, and being chased by, their puppy, P-chan, all around the yard.  Sitting on the porch nearby was Sera, holding a book in her lap and trying to do homework in-between watching her cousins play.

      Impmon grunted.  He didn't want to be seen by Ai and Makoto, but he had to admit he missed them.

      Even if they were pains in the butt.

      All of a sudden, as if triggered by a silent signal, the twins decided to stop running around with their puppy.  The two toddled over to Sera and peered up at her.  "Sera?" they said at the same time.

      "Hmm?" Sera blinked and looked up from her textbook at her cousins.

      "Is Impmon ever gonna be our digimon again?" Ai asked sadly.

      "Yeah.  We miss him," Makoto said with equal sadness.

      Impmon blinked, then drooped.  He felt ill with guilt.

      Sera blinked at the sudden question, but attributed it to Ai and Makoto's short attention spans.  Also, she had been half-expecting them to ask her about Impmon at some point already.  "Well...  I don't know...," Sera answered honestly as she closed her book and set it down beside her.  "But I doubt it.  You both treated him very badly."

      "But we didn't mean to!" Makoto protested.

      "Yeah!  And we already said we were sorry!" Ai added.

      "..." Impmon curled up, listening.

      Sera paused for a moment, mulling over the situation before she spoke again.  "You know Impmon cares for both of you very much, and I'm sure he misses you too, but you can't expect him to come back after you threw away his D-Arc," she said slowly and as gently as she could.

      "But...  We thought he was never coming back...," Ai sniffled sadly.

      "Yeah...  We didn't even do anything bad again and then he went away!" Makoto cried.

      "... ..." Impmon closed his eyes.  He couldn't blame them for that, but he also couldn't forget something that had bothered him ever since then.  The other Tamers had kept their D-Arcs close, as personal mementos of their digimon and perhaps even with the hope of one day seeing them again.

      Ai and Makoto hadn't shown any such hope or attachment.

      "..."  Sera paused for a few moments longer; not wanting to let her emotions make her to speak unthinkingly and accidentally hurt her cousins' feelings.  However, she couldn't help but allow some of her feelings creep through on this subject.  "... So you decided to throw the D-Arc away and forget about him?" she asked.

      "... We thought he didn't like us anymore," Makoto mumbled sadly.

      "... And he left so he would never see us again," Ai added, sniffling quietly.

      "..." Impmon closed his eyes.

      "Why would you think that he would do that?" Sera asked quietly, hating to see her cousins upset, but knowing this conversation was necessary.

      "He's did it before," Makoto pointed out, upset.

      "He came back after a while...," Ai added.

      "But then he lied to us," Makoto sniffled, continuing where Ai left off.

      "Impmon said he forgave us, but he still left us without us doing anything bad again," Ai finished sadly.

      "..."  Impmon set his jaw, tapping quietly on the roof so that no one could hear him.

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes and let out a sigh slowly, trying to keep calm in the face of two sad children.  She opened them again and looked at Ai and Makoto calmly.  "What do you mean 'doing anything bad again'?" she asked.

      "..."  The twins looked at each other before looking down, shuffling their feet.

      "..." Impmon didn't want to hear, but then he did.  What exactly did they think of the whole situation, anyway?

      "... We used to fight," Ai said quietly.

      "... A lot," Makoto added.

      "..." Sera bit her tongue to keep from telling them that they still did fight a lot.

      "And we'd fight over Impmon," Ai continued.

      "A lot," Makoto added.

      "..." Impmon chewed on his lower lip, quietly.

      "... Fight as in what happened to Kero-chan, your teddy bear?" Sera asked.

      The twins reluctantly nodded.

      Impmon resisted his urge to shiver.

      "..."  Sera paused for a few moments.  "... How many times did you do that to him?" she asked quietly, fighting down the anger she felt at the idea of Ai and Makoto trying to pull Impmon apart like they had with their teddy bear.

      The twins shrugged as they looked at each other.

      "We lost count," Ai said.

      "It was a whole lot though," Makoto added.

      "... Once a day, sometimes," Impmon muttered quietly to himself.

      "I see...," Sera said quietly.  "... Is that all the bad things you did to him?"

      Ai and Makoto looked at each other for a few moments as they thought that question over.

      "Well...  We did accidentally set him on fire...," Makoto reluctantly admitted.

      "But that only happened twice!" Ai protested.

      "... ... ..." Impmon's cheek twitched.  He remembered that.

      "..." Sera stared at her cousins in silent shock and resisted the urge to yell.  Barely.

      "And when we ran around the roof that one time...," Ai trailed off.

      "... He tried to stop us and we accidentally knocked him off it," Makoto finished.

      Impmon twitched again.  He remembered that, too.

      "Anything else?" Sera asked, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on from restraining her temper.

      The two children were silent for a long while as they looked at each other, before they shook their heads vigorously.

      "No," they said in perfect unison.  However, it was obviously a lie.

      "Nothing they wanna admit," Impmon thought, dryly.

      "..."  Sera took a few deep breaths to quell her anger as she figured that all that she heard from Ai and Makoto had to be just the tip of the iceberg so to speak.  "...  It sounds to me that you treated Impmon VERY badly," she said as calmly as she could manage.  "I'm not surprised he ran away.  What I'm surprised at is the fact that he came back and forgave you."

      "We didn't mean to hurt him...," Ai mumbled.

      "Yeah!  It just happened," Makoto added.

      "... Repeatedly," Impmon added, mentally.

      "... Didn't you notice you hurt him when you were doing it?" Sera asked incredulously, surprised at the self-centeredness of the twins.

      Ai and Makoto shook their heads.

      "No," Makoto said.

      "He never said so either," Ai added.

      "..." Impmon twitched.

      "... He NEVER told you that you were hurting him?" Sera blinked.

      Again the twins shook their heads.

      "Nope," Makoto said.

      "Never ever," Ai added.

      "..."  Sera tensed as a thought occurred to her.  "... Did he ever scream?" she asked quietly, hoping they never hurt Impmon that badly.

      Impmon clenched, waiting for their response.

      "Uh huh," Ai nodded.

      "Lots of times," Makoto nodded as well.

      Impmon sighed; at least they were honest.

      Sera stared at her cousins, aghast.  "... And you didn't think that meant he was hurting!?" she asked, her voice rising slightly.

      "He never SAID it!" Ai's lower lip trembled.

      "Yeah!" Makoto sniffled.

      "..." Impmon face-faulted.  No arguing with child logic.

      "..." Sera merely stared at them, stunned to the point that she couldn't speak.

      "We tried to stop!" Ai continued.

      "REAL HARD!" Makoto said loudly.

      "But it was too hard!"

      "So we couldn't!"

      "So we kept being bad."

      "Until Impmon ran away."

      "... Dear Lord," Sera muttered as she slowly shook her head.  "I'm shocked Impmon put up with you two doing that to him for so long!  If you did to P-chan what you did to Impmon, he'd run away in less than a day and NEVER come back!"

      "But...," Makoto's lower lip trembled.

      "We said we were sorry...," Ai protested, sniffling.

      "..." Impmon picked at his teeth, trying to ignore them.

      "If someone did that to you, they'd be arrested and locked up for life!" Sera continued, ignoring what they said.  "Just saying you're sorry isn't good enough here!  You should have done that after you were bad the first time!  I can't believe you had the gall to hurt him so bad then throw his D-Arc and him away when he didn't come back right away to take more abuse!"

      "But we stopped...," Ai sniffled, tears in her eyes.

      "Yeah," Makoto added, tears shimmering in his eyes as well.

      Impmon stretched out on his back, staring at the clouds quietly.

      "But how long would it have been until you couldn't take not being bad to him anymore?" Sera demanded.  "You say you used to fight a lot, but I've got news for you: you still do.  It's hard to be around you when you're constantly arguing, and it must have been agony for Impmon with how you constantly hurt him like that!  I'll bet if he were to come back, you'd just fall right back into that rut of putting him in the middle of your fights and making him miserable!"

      Impmon wasn't sure if he wanted to cheer or cry; he was glad someone agreed with how he felt, but he disliked knowing that the two children would definitely start crying.

      As if on cue the twins started whining and sniffling, getting ready to burst out crying at any moment.

      "Oh, stop!" Sera snapped.  "You're not sorry!  You're not even really sad!  You're just upset that I'm angry at you and you're crying to make me feel bad about it!  I've been around you two long enough to know how you two think."  She paused for a moment.  "Or at least I thought I did.  I had no idea you both were so cruel to someone who obviously loves you very much."

      "..." Impmon sighed.

      Ai and Makoto stared at Sera before they burst out crying, wailing like a pair of banshees.

      Impmon flinched and put his claws in his ears, trying to drown them out.

      "... You can just stop.  It's not working on me," Sera said calmly.  She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.  "Stop it right now, or you can go to your room."

      The twins quieted down to soft sniffling as tears trickled down their cheeks.

      "B-but...," Makoto hiccupped.

      "We said we were sorry!" Ai wailed.

      Impmon rolled over on to his side, trying to ignore how guilty he felt.

      "I know, but I don't think you really meant it, or knew what exactly you were sorry for," Sera pointed out.

      The two didn't answer, instead sobbing and looking at her sadly.

      Sera closed her eyes again.  While she had told them it didn't, Ai and Makoto's crying did in fact affect her; she was just good at hiding it.  "... I want you two to go to your room and think about what you've done to Impmon," she said with a forced calm.  "He might come back to you again someday, maybe even to be your digimon again, but until you learn not to be bad, that'll never happen."

      Ai and Makoto sniffed and sobbed, but reluctantly nodded as they trudged into the house sadly.

      Impmon peered over the side, watching quietly as the two trudged slowly to their rooms.  He hated seeing them cry, regardless of what they did to him.  Maybe he was too forgiving or mushy, but he just couldn't hold it against them.  They were just kids, even if a bit bratty and selfish.

      Impmon sighed and slumped against the roof.  He didn't hate the two, or even hold what they did against them.  He was just so very wary of humans because of it.  Not that anyone could blame him, of course.

      Maybe they would one day apologize for what they did and actually understand what it was they were apologizing for.  Until then, however, he didn't have much of a desire to see them face-to-face.

      But that didn't mean he still wasn't looking out for them.


	28. Impmon's Busy Day (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: And again the newest chapter of Dreaming to Reality is a bit late.  Not a good trend, I know, but as I warned on my authors' page, I tend to be sick all the time so I can only do what I can when I'm able.  Hopefully this chapter full of Impmon goodness will help make it up to all of you.  ^^;  As anyways Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters along with this story belong to us, so no stealing.  Oh, and we're back to two version chapters!  In case you're wondering, this is the censored yaoi-free version, so if you like yaoi and/or don't want your story censored, you better go see the other version of this chapter, otherwise stay right here and enjoy reading!

      Oh!  And guess what!  Our fic has received its first meaningless, lameresque flame!  Of course, it had no critiquing value and simply attacked for sake of creating a stagnant pile of sludge!  But what can you expect from someone with the IQ and courage of a Numemon?  For SHAME, not even putting a NAME! ;PP

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 21: Impmon's Busy Day_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Impmon muttered quietly to himself as he paced the top of the phone lines.  He had been doing so for hours; walking to the end of the street, then back to Sera's apartment.  He just didn't feel like going anywhere, but also didn't dare go inside.

      Sera was getting ready for school, which irritated him.  He vowed to blow up the replacement alarm, which was apparently her father's, as soon as she left.

      Impmon didn't want to get flashed by Sera again.  Or rather, he did but he didn't.  He didn't understand how he felt, but it irritated him.

      "She's just a human...," Impmon muttered, and then he paused.  He blinked as he remembered their conversation at the circus tent.  Could humans and digimon feel that way about each other?

      Impmon blinked and blushed lightly, then uttered a curse.

      "... Not that I like mushy stuff."

      Impmon blushed even brighter when he remembered how she kissed him; he vaguely remembered similar incidents at the camp, but one of them was just a dream so it didn't count.

      Either way, Impmon decided to just pace outside.

      Besides, it most likely meant nothing since she seemed to cuddle him every chance she got like a stuffed animal.  She most likely just did that to everyone.

      Impmon glanced downwards just in time to see Sera leave the apartment building and walk off to school.

      Impmon paused, and then tapped his chin.  "It's safe to go back in now, I guess," he muttered.  "She should still have food left, right?"

      Idly he noticed a woman with long black hair wearing a black business suit and carrying a black leather briefcase exiting a taxi in front of the apartment building once Sera was out of sight.

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked.  "Who's grandma?"

      'Grandma' apparently had excellent hearing, as she heard Impmon's comment, and looked up sharply towards him.

      "... WHOA!" Impmon blinked repeatedly.

      The woman stared, her crimson eyes widening in shock at the sight of the small purple digimon.  "A DEMON!" she gasped sharply.

      "What?  Where?" Impmon glanced around.

      The woman pointed at Impmon.  "You!  You're the demon!" she announced, backing away slowly from the telephone pole he was on.  "Don't come near me!"

      "... HEY!" Impmon blinked suddenly and pointed at her.  "You dye your hair!"

      "..." The woman stopped backing away and glared at Impmon.  "That's none of your business!"

      "Geez, don't be grouchy, grandma."

      "..." The woman's cheek twitched angrily.  "I'M NOT A GRANDMOTHER!"

      "You're old enough."

      "I'll have you know I'm only thirty seven!" the woman snapped.  Obviously she was too angry with Impmon to be afraid of him anymore.

      "Which means, in woman talk, sixty four," Impmon paused, and then added an after thought.  "AT LEAST."

      The woman fairly bristled at Impmon's comment, glaring daggers into him as her eyes flashed.  "I AM NOT A DAY OVER THIRTY SEVEN AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT YOU LITTLE MONSTER!"

      "Seventy six?"

      The woman growled loudly and spat out a very vile curse involving Impmon and a broomstick.

      "... Why would I want to do that?" Impmon blinked.  "And why are you visualizing me doing it?"

      "... Go back to hell or wherever you came from you little gremlin!" the woman snarled.

      "Naw, the place I come from is called the Digital World," Impmon grinned.  "And I don't want to go back, grandma."

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER!" the woman snapped, completely missing everything else Impmon said.

      "Granny."

      "STOP CALLING ME THAT!"  The woman then let loose another tirade of derogatory language at Impmon.

      "Grandmamma?"

      "OR THAT!"

      "There are other ways of saying grandma that I don't know?"

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!"

      "You're so defensive, grandma."

      "..."  The woman seethed as she glared hatefully at Impmon.  "Why are you here!?  Are you here to eat someone or steal souls, you little demon!?"

      "Are you mad because I guessed your age?"  Impmon tilted his head.  "How close was I?"

      "..."  Instead of answering, the woman took off one of her flats, reared back, and threw it at Impmon.

      Impmon caught it easily, and then eyed the shoe oddly.  "Are you stripping?"

      The woman growled and let loose another string of curses directed at Impmon.

      "Hey, I must have been pretty close!" Impmon marveled.  "You're getting personal!  Whoo, did I guess the exact year or somethin'?"

      The woman let out a shriek of rage and proceeded to throw her other shoe at Impmon as hard as she could.  "LEAVE OR I'LL CALL THE POLICE!!!"

      Impmon caught that shoe too, and then eyed the woman oddly.  "And what would that solve, exactly?" he asked, calmly.  "All I did was guess your age."

      "GO AWAY, HELLSPAWN!" the woman snarled.  "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO INSULT ME!  IN FACT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXIST AT ALL!"

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked.  "What're you talking about?  I have as much right to be here as you, grandma."

      "Demons are unholy creatures from Hell!  Their only purpose is to make humans miserable and to torture them!  Thus they do not have a right to exist!" the woman declared, pointing at Impmon for added emphasis.

      "Well, that's good for them but I'm not a demon," Impmon shrugged.  "So what does that have to do with me?"

      "... You're a walking talking purple horned FREAK with a pitchfork tail and you have the gall to say you're not a demon!?"

      "Horned?" Impmon blinked and felt his head.  "No, just ears.  And I'm not a demon,"

      "Of course you are!  You are obviously not a human or an animal, and as such that means you're unnatural!  Which means the most obvious thing you'd have to be is a demon!"

      "No, I'm not."

      "Yes you are!"

      "Nope, afraid not, granny-toots."

      "I AM NOT A GRANDMOTHER SO DON'T CALL ME THAT!"  The woman then paused.  "Or 'toots' for that matter!"

      "If you can call me 'demon' when I'm not, I can call you 'toots' when you're not, grandma."

      "What are you, then!?  AND DON'T CALL ME TOOTS OR GRANDMA!"

      "I'm a digimon."

      "...  Don't be stupid!  Digimon is a card game!"

      "Funny, I don't feel like a card.  But let me check!"  Impmon smirked as he pretended to pinch himself.  "Feels real to me."

      "Do you think I'm an idiot!?  You're obviously not a card game so you're OBVIOUSLY lying!"

      "Actually, not at first... but now I think you're a big idiot, grandma."  Impmon started to balance on the wire, obviously bored.  "But yer just sayin' that 'cause yer mad, huh granny-toots?"

      "..."  The woman snarled at Impmon before she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a cell phone, which she immediately started dialing.

      "Order me a pizza!" Impmon grinned down at the woman.  "Okay?"

      The woman glared at Impmon before she held the cell phone to her ear.  "Hello, police?" she said in a surprisingly calm tone of voice.  "I'd like to report a monster sighting."

      "Hm?"  Impmon glanced at the woman as he walked back and forth just above her, idly.

      "Yes, like the ones on the news reports a few months ago," the woman continued as she kept her angry gaze trained on Impmon.  "It's small and purple with horns and a pitchfork tail."

      "I don't have horns, granny-toots."

      The woman ignored Impmon as she gave the police the address of the apartment complex.

      "Don't forget my pizza, grandma," Impmon called as he twirled on his heel a few times.

      After a few minutes of conversing with the police, the woman then hung up her cell phone.  "Laugh while you can, demon," she hissed, glaring poisonously at Impmon.  "When the police get here, you won't be able to laugh anymore."

      "Back to the demon thing?" Impmon shrugged, 'sighing'.  "You're delusional, grandma."

      The woman's eye twitched, but she said nothing as she put her cell phone away, then crossed her arms.

      "Oh help!  HELP!" Impmon feigned fear, making his voice high and squeaky like a woman's.  "It was horrible!  I think it was a demon!  Or maybe it was... and it was HUGE... sort of!  And it, oh, well, maybe it didn't actually DO anything, but I was SO scared!"

      "..."  The woman's eye twitched again.  "SHUT UP!" she snapped.

      "Oh boo hoo!" Impmon 'sobbed'.

      The woman spat out a vile curse involving Impmon and a pair of pliers not used in a conventional manner.

      "Eee!  You're a perverted woman!" Impmon gasped, 'horrified'.  "Stop fantasizing!"

      "..."  The woman spat out another curse and debated flinging her briefcase at Impmon.

      Impmon suddenly tensed and looked up just as an ice cream truck drove by slowly, humming out its haunting melody.

      "... WHOA!  ICE CREAM!" Impmon cried, gleefully.

      The woman blinked, surprised.

      Impmon proceeded to dart along the wires after the ice cream trick, humming merrily.  "Ice creeaaaam!"

      "... HEY!  COME BACK HERE SO THE POLICE CAN SHOOT YOU!" the woman snapped, glaring after Impmon.  "... AND GIVE ME BACK MY SHOES!"

      "Grandma, if you expect me to give up ice cream so you can act like an idiot, you can FORGET it!" Impmon cackled.  "And I'm keeping your shoes!"

      "COME BACK HERE!" the woman repeated, shaking a fist at Impmon.

      "Yummy, yummy, yummy, I want ice cream for my tummy!" Impmon replied as he scurried along, turning the corner.

      The woman growled and threw down her briefcase angrily.  Silently she swore that she'd make him pay for insulting her, somehow.

**_*~*_**

      "Maybe this was a bad idea..."

      "Naw, Tsu! It's fine!"

      Tsuyosa looked at the racks of clothes, his expression doubtful.  Rows and rows of bike pants rested in front of him, in tidy rows and organized by size.

      ChibiBa peered out of Tsuyosa's backpack, grinning, as he propped his chin on his Tamer's shoulder.

      "But they're all so... small," Tsuyosa muttered, shifting the bag in his hand that contained his new black and silver skates.

      "I think they're supposed to be," ChibiBa pointed out.

      "But THAT small?" Tsuyosa stared.  "It'll cut off my circulation!"

      "Naw, it's fine!" ChibiBa grinned.

      "I don't know what to get," Tsuyosa muttered.  He blinked and paled when ChibiBa lunged and grabbed a small pair of tight black pants.

      "THESE."

      "... But they're way too small!"

      "No, they're not!" ChibiBa assured Tsuyosa.

      "... If you say so," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "Don't worry!  It'll be fun!" ChibiBa nuzzled his Tamer.

      "I'll make a fool of myself," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "Will NOT," ChibiBa retorted.

      "People will laugh."

      "I'll bite their fingers off if they do."

      "... You just won't let me back out, will you?" Tsuyosa glanced at ChibiBa.

      "Nope."

**_*~*_**

      Impmon hummed quietly to himself as he scavenged the refrigerator once more for anything edible.  Having already eaten most of the food, he silently grumbled about the sudden lack of contents and found himself forced to settle for a red apple.

      With a grunt, Impmon closed the door and shoved the apple in his mouth.  However, as he did so, the force of the door caused a little piece of paper to flutter.  Impmon paused to stare at it, noting that the paper had not been there before and was held on rather weakly by a cheap seashell magnet.

      Impmon snatched the paper and peered at it, thoughtfully.

      "Hmmm...," he muttered, then shrugged.  "Eh, who am I kiddin'?  I can't read it anyway."

      The sudden sound of the front door opening caught his attention before he was about to crumple the paper in his claw.

      "I'm home!" came Sera's cheerful voice.

      "Sera!" Impmon looked up and grinned.

      Sera, still dressed in her school fuku, walked into the kitchen moments later, after she had left her shoes in the doorway and had closed and locked the front door behind her.  "Hi Impmon!" she smiled at her partner.  "How was your day?"

      "Boring," Impmon scowled.

      "Sorry about that," Sera apologized.  "But tomorrow's Sunday, which means no school, so we can do something fun then, and tonight too, okay?"

      "When're you going to teach that Tengoku kid how to skate?" Impmon tilted his head.

      "Tomorrow afternoon."  Sera paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "Hey... do you want me to teach you how to skate too?"

      "... Eh?" Impmon blinked at Sera.  "... Uh, I guess?"

      "Great!" Sera smiled brightly, delighted at the prospect.  "It'll be fun, you'll see."

      "I guess," Impmon blinked slowly.

      Sera paused and blinked as she noticed the paper in Impmon's hand.  "Hey... what's that?"

      "I dunno," Impmon shrugged.  "Found it on the 'fridge."

      "..." Sera sighed and took the paper from Impmon.  "... I guess mom or dad must have stopped by while we weren't here," she muttered, her good cheer dropping somewhat as she read the note.

      "..." Impmon didn't want to mention the fact that he never saw them come or leave the apartment.

      "... Looks like I'm stuck babysitting for a few nights," Sera sighed once she had finished reading the note.  "Starting with tonight."

      "... Babysitting?" Impmon arched an eyebrow.

      "..."  Sera paused for a moment before answering, uncertain.  "... I've got to watch Ai and Makoto while my aunt and uncle go out tonight," she said slowly.

      "..." Impmon twitched.

      "... Sorry about this," Sera sighed again.  "My aunt and uncle probably want some time away from the twins, and I get 'volunteered' to baby-sit them whenever possible."

      "... Isn't volunteering, well, voluntary?" Impmon muttered.

      "... Yes, but I'm their only relative that can really spend the time to do it besides their grandma in Hongo," Sera explained.  "Babysitting is kind of expensive, so about a year ago my parents pretty much drafted me to be Ai and Makoto's steady babysitter."

      "..." Impmon scowled.

      "... Sorry about this," Sera repeated apologetically.  "My parents expect me to be responsible, so I'm pretty much stuck with it."

      "What does being forced to baby-sit have to do with being responsible!?" Impmon fumed.

      "Well... I have to watch two kids... and keep them out of trouble... and be the responsible adult," Sera tried to explain.

      "... Like they have any idea what 'responsibility' is," Impmon muttered under his breath.

      "..." Sera paused for a moment, as she had heard what Impmon had said, but decided not to show it.  "... Well... my parents usually tell me this about it...  'Taking care of a child is the ultimate responsibility a person could have, and you can't just get out of it whenever you feel like it or ignore it'," she quoted blandly.

      "..." Impmon's eyes narrowed as a soft growl escaped him.  "Those hypocritical bastards!  How dare they spout that junk and then pull the crap they do!"

      "..." Sera sighed softly as she turned to set her school bag down onto the kitchen counter.  "... My parents are nice people, Impmon... they take care of me...," she muttered, carefully keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

      "Like HELL they do!" Impmon snarled, obviously very upset.

      "..." Sera was silent for a moment, as she didn't want to upset Impmon any further.  "... I don't have to be at my aunt and uncle's house until six, so we can do something together until then," she said, changing the subject.  She then smiled at her partner, doing an admirable job of hiding how she was feeling.  "I can order some takeout if you'd like and we could play video games or something."

      However, Impmon didn't seem to notice as he muttered to himself.  The words 'water balloon' and 'flat tires' occurred repeatedly.

      "..." Sera quickly decided to try and calm Impmon down before he did something drastic.  "... Hey, Impmon... I got some new cards today.  What do you think about me trying them out?"

      "Eh?" Impmon blinked and looked at Sera.

      "Just kidding," Sera smiled.

      "... Huh."  Impmon blinked and itched his chin, wondering what Sera was trying to pull while debating whether to freeze or boil the water balloons before he throws them.

      "... So... do you want me to order some takeout ramen, okonomiyaki, or something else?" Sera asked, trying to distract Impmon.

      "All three," Impmon grinned, then tapped his chin and eyed the window, wondering how high up they were and how it'd affect the water balloons.

      Sera noticed Impmon's look and figured that probably nothing less than lots of tasty food would be able to distract him.  She rooted around inside of her school bag for a few moments before she pulled out her wallet and their D-Arc.  "... Huh.  It actually stayed where I left it for once," she muttered off-handedly to herself as she glanced at the D-Arc.

      "Whaddayamean?" Impmon asked as he looked out the window, judging the distance.

      "Well... ever since I first got our D-Arc, it seems like every time I let it out of my sight, I can never find it again where I left it."  Sera tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "Like if I'd leave it in my school bag, I'd find it later in the bathroom, or on my desk."

      "... Huh."  Impmon blinked.

      "... Maybe Ai and Makoto kept finding it and taking it every time they visited...," Sera mumbled to herself thoughtfully.

      "Naw," Impmon shook his head.  "'Cause it kept appearing for them.  At least, I guess so.  It appeared once on the bus all on its own, so it's probably done it other times too..."

      Sera blinked at Impmon.  "... It kept appearing for them?"  She set her wallet down onto the counter and held their D-Arc in both hands, looking down at it as if expecting something to happen.  "... Why?"

      "Why does the D-Arc do anything?" Impmon shrugged.

      "..."  Sera glanced between Impmon and the D-Arc.  "... Impmon... what happened when you first came to the Real World?"

      "Uh..." Impmon itched his chin.  "... I was Realized in an empty room in some house.  The D-Arc was on the desk... and no one was there so I walked out and found Ai and Mako-chan.  We ducked back in the room; they grabbed my D-Arc and shoved me in a bag.  Then we went home."

      "..."  Sera tapped her fingers against the D-Arc as she thought over what Impmon told her.  "... It must've been when I first got the D-Arc...," she mused.  "It was before we moved, and Ai and Makoto were staying over at the time while their house was being fumigated."

      Impmon shrugged, as he had no idea what to say.

      "... If not then, then you just appeared for them while they were someplace else," Sera sighed softly.

      Impmon scowled, no longer interested in the conversation as it involved Ai and Mako-chan too much, and trotted over to the window.  "..."

      "..."  Sera noticed Impmon's reaction and decided to switch the conversation away from her cousins.  "... Impmon... did I ever tell you how I got our D-arc?"

      "Nope," Impmon replied.  He didn't want to mention his dream.  As far as he knew, it was just a dream.  With a tap of his chin, he eyed the window suspiciously.  "If you drop a frozen water balloon from this height, would it do serious damage?"

      "..."  Sera walked over to Impmon and kneeled down next to him so that they were eye-level.  "Well... I got it from a dream..."  She shook her head slightly.  "I mean... I thought it was a dream at the time..."  She paused for a moment as she tried to remember the 'dream' as best she could.  "I was in a strange dark place full of glowing green symbols... and then there was a small gold star that suddenly appeared... and when I touched it... your D-Arc appeared before me... and then when I woke up in my bed, I was holding it in my hand."

      "..." Impmon blinked slowly.

      "At the time I didn't really realize that it wasn't just a dream..."  Sera laughed a little, blushing lightly.  "It's funny... because I've always dreamed of becoming a chosen child... ever since I got my first and favorite digimon card... and when I was first given the chance... I guess it was too much of a dream come true that I couldn't really believe it was happening..."

      She paused for a moment then smiled.  "I'm glad I got a second chance to meet you, Impmon."

      "...," Impmon flushed slightly. "... I dunno about all that. I just know it happened... and that whole 'chosen child' stuff sounds a bit too much like fairy tales... and VERY cliché... but..."

      He paused and itched his chin.  "I'm glad I got to meetcha too."

      Sera smiled and pulled Impmon into a warm hug.  "It might be cliché, but you're a dream come true to me," she whispered in his ear.

      "..." Impmon flushed even brighter.

      "Sorry about upsetting you," Sera apologized before she kissed Impmon's forehead.  She then smiled cutely.  "How about that takeout now?"

      "..." Impmon blushed, and then squeaked as his stomach growled.  "... Sure."

      "You're so cute, Impmon," Sera giggled.

      "... You mean cool."

**_*~*_**

      "...  So you're telling us... your bakery got robbed... by cross-dressing digimon?"

      "Yes," Takato sighed.  "I know it's hard to believe, but that's what happened."

      Ruki crossed her arms and looked at Takato, levelly.

      "And they accused you of PEEPING?" she repeated.

      "Yes," Takato repeated, sighing again.

      "... And it wasn't a dream?" Ruki looked at Takato, piercingly.

      "No, it wasn't!  Ask Guilmon!  He saw it too!" Takato resisted the urge to flail his arms in exasperation.

      "They run fast!" Guilmon agreed as he paused long enough to nod sagely.  Then, he turned and chased after Terriermon with a playful growl.

      "... That's bizarre," Ruki scowled.

      "No kidding," Takato muttered as he shook his head.  "I was about ready to tear my hair out."

      "Hmm...  Why would digimon do that?" Jenrya wondered as he tapped his chin thoughtfully.

      "They're insane?" Ruki offered.

      "... Perhaps they were under orders?" Renamon offered from her perch in the tree above them.

      "... That has to be the best possible reason," Jenrya commented.  "But why would someone order that?"

      "We would have to ask them to find that out," Renamon pointed out, calmly.

      "I guess so...," Jenrya frowned as he continued to ponder why anyone would willingly want digimon to dress up in such a kinky way.

      "Maybe they're just perverts," Terriermon quipped before he hopped out of the way of Guilmon's playful lunge.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon reclined on a rooftop, just out of sight.  He glowered down at the yard below him, his tail twitching up and down with agitation.  Beneath him, Ai and Makoto were chasing, and being chased by, their puppy, P-chan, all around the yard.  Sitting on the porch nearby was Sera, holding a book in her lap and trying to do homework in-between watching her cousins play.

      Impmon grunted.  He didn't want to be seen by Ai and Makoto, but he had to admit he missed them.

      Even if they were pains in the butt.

      All of a sudden, as if triggered by a silent signal, the twins decided to stop running around with their puppy.  The two toddled over to Sera and peered up at her.  "Sera?" they said at the same time.

      "Hmm?" Sera blinked and looked up from her textbook at her cousins.

      "Is Impmon ever gonna be our digimon again?" Ai asked sadly.

      "Yeah.  We miss him," Makoto said with equal sadness.

      Impmon blinked, then drooped.  He felt ill with guilt.

      Sera blinked at the sudden question, but attributed it to Ai and Makoto's short attention spans.  Also, she had been half-expecting them to ask her about Impmon at some point already.  "Well...  I don't know...," Sera answered honestly as she closed her book and set it down beside her.  "But I doubt it.  You both treated him very badly."

      "But we didn't mean to!" Makoto protested.

      "Yeah!  And we already said we were sorry!" Ai added.

      "..." Impmon curled up, listening.

      Sera paused for a moment, mulling over the situation before she spoke again.  "You know Impmon cares for both of you very much, and I'm sure he misses you too, but you can't expect him to come back after you threw away his D-Arc," she said slowly and as gently as she could.

      "But...  We thought he was never coming back...," Ai sniffled sadly.

      "Yeah...  We didn't even do anything bad again and then he went away!" Makoto cried.

      "... ..." Impmon closed his eyes.  He couldn't blame them for that, but he also couldn't forget something that had bothered him ever since then.  The other Tamers had kept their D-Arcs close, as personal mementos of their digimon and perhaps even with the hope of one day seeing them again.

      Ai and Makoto hadn't shown any such hope or attachment.

      "..."  Sera paused for a few moments longer; not wanting to let her emotions make her to speak unthinkingly and accidentally hurt her cousins' feelings.  However, she couldn't help but allow some of her feelings creep through on this subject.  "... So you decided to throw the D-Arc away and forget about him?" she asked.

      "... We thought he didn't like us anymore," Makoto mumbled sadly.

      "... And he left so he would never see us again," Ai added, sniffling quietly.

      "..." Impmon closed his eyes.

      "Why would you think that he would do that?" Sera asked quietly, hating to see her cousins upset, but knowing this conversation was necessary.

      "He's did it before," Makoto pointed out, upset.

      "He came back after a while...," Ai added.

      "But then he lied to us," Makoto sniffled, continuing where Ai left off.

      "Impmon said he forgave us, but he still left us without us doing anything bad again," Ai finished sadly.

      "..."  Impmon set his jaw, tapping quietly on the roof so that no one could hear him.

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes and let out a sigh slowly, trying to keep calm in the face of two sad children.  She opened them again and looked at Ai and Makoto calmly.  "What do you mean 'doing anything bad again'?" she asked.

      "..."  The twins looked at each other before looking down, shuffling their feet.

      "..." Impmon didn't want to hear, but then he did.  What exactly did they think of the whole situation, anyway?

      "... We used to fight," Ai said quietly.

      "... A lot," Makoto added.

      "..." Sera bit her tongue to keep from telling them that they still did fight a lot.

      "And we'd fight over Impmon," Ai continued.

      "A lot," Makoto added.

      "..." Impmon chewed on his lower lip, quietly.

      "... Fight as in what happened to Kero-chan, your teddy bear?" Sera asked.

      The twins reluctantly nodded.

      Impmon resisted his urge to shiver.

      "..."  Sera paused for a few moments.  "... How many times did you do that to him?" she asked quietly, fighting down the anger she felt at the idea of Ai and Makoto trying to pull Impmon apart like they had with their teddy bear.

      The twins shrugged as they looked at each other.

      "We lost count," Ai said.

      "It was a whole lot though," Makoto added.

      "... Once a day, sometimes," Impmon muttered quietly to himself.

      "I see...," Sera said quietly.  "... Is that all the bad things you did to him?"

      Ai and Makoto looked at each other for a few moments as they thought that question over.

      "Well...  We did accidentally set him on fire...," Makoto reluctantly admitted.

      "But that only happened twice!" Ai protested.

      "... ... ..." Impmon's cheek twitched.  He remembered that.

      "..." Sera stared at her cousins in silent shock and resisted the urge to yell.  Barely.

      "And when we ran around the roof that one time...," Ai trailed off.

      "... He tried to stop us and we accidentally knocked him off it," Makoto finished.

      Impmon twitched again.  He remembered that, too.

      "Anything else?" Sera asked, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on from restraining her temper.

      The two children were silent for a long while as they looked at each other, before they shook their heads vigorously.

      "No," they said in perfect unison.  However, it was obviously a lie.

      "Nothing they wanna admit," Impmon thought, dryly.

      "..."  Sera took a few deep breaths to quell her anger as she figured that all that she heard from Ai and Makoto had to be just the tip of the iceberg so to speak.  "...  It sounds to me that you treated Impmon VERY badly," she said as calmly as she could manage.  "I'm not surprised he ran away.  What I'm surprised at is the fact that he came back and forgave you."

      "We didn't mean to hurt him...," Ai mumbled.

      "Yeah!  It just happened," Makoto added.

      "... Repeatedly," Impmon added, mentally.

      "... Didn't you notice you hurt him when you were doing it?" Sera asked incredulously, surprised at the self-centeredness of the twins.

      Ai and Makoto shook their heads.

      "No," Makoto said.

      "He never said so either," Ai added.

      "..." Impmon twitched.

      "... He NEVER told you that you were hurting him?" Sera blinked.

      Again the twins shook their heads.

      "Nope," Makoto said.

      "Never ever," Ai added.

      "..."  Sera tensed as a thought occurred to her.  "... Did he ever scream?" she asked quietly, hoping they never hurt Impmon that badly.

      Impmon clenched, waiting for their response.

      "Uh huh," Ai nodded.

      "Lots of times," Makoto nodded as well.

      Impmon sighed; at least they were honest.

      Sera stared at her cousins, aghast.  "... And you didn't think that meant he was hurting!?" she asked, her voice rising slightly.

      "He never SAID it!" Ai's lower lip trembled.

      "Yeah!" Makoto sniffled.

      "..." Impmon face-faulted.  No arguing with child logic.

      "..." Sera merely stared at them, stunned to the point that she couldn't speak.

      "We tried to stop!" Ai continued.

      "REAL HARD!" Makoto said loudly.

      "But it was too hard!"

      "So we couldn't!"

      "So we kept being bad."

      "Until Impmon ran away."

      "... Dear Lord," Sera muttered as she slowly shook her head.  "I'm shocked Impmon put up with you two doing that to him for so long!  If you did to P-chan what you did to Impmon, he'd run away in less than a day and NEVER come back!"

      "But...," Makoto's lower lip trembled.

      "We said we were sorry...," Ai protested, sniffling.

      "..." Impmon picked at his teeth, trying to ignore them.

      "If someone did that to you, they'd be arrested and locked up for life!" Sera continued, ignoring what they said.  "Just saying you're sorry isn't good enough here!  You should have done that after you were bad the first time!  I can't believe you had the gall to hurt him so bad then throw his D-Arc and him away when he didn't come back right away to take more abuse!"

      "But we stopped...," Ai sniffled, tears in her eyes.

      "Yeah," Makoto added, tears shimmering in his eyes as well.

      Impmon stretched out on his back, staring at the clouds quietly.

      "But how long would it have been until you couldn't take not being bad to him anymore?" Sera demanded.  "You say you used to fight a lot, but I've got news for you: you still do.  It's hard to be around you when you're constantly arguing, and it must have been agony for Impmon with how you constantly hurt him like that!  I'll bet if he were to come back, you'd just fall right back into that rut of putting him in the middle of your fights and making him miserable!"

      Impmon wasn't sure if he wanted to cheer or cry; he was glad someone agreed with how he felt, but he disliked knowing that the two children would definitely start crying.

      As if on cue the twins started whining and sniffling, getting ready to burst out crying at any moment.

      "Oh, stop!" Sera snapped.  "You're not sorry!  You're not even really sad!  You're just upset that I'm angry at you and you're crying to make me feel bad about it!  I've been around you two long enough to know how you two think."  She paused for a moment.  "Or at least I thought I did.  I had no idea you both were so cruel to someone who obviously loves you very much."

      "..." Impmon sighed.

      Ai and Makoto stared at Sera before they burst out crying, wailing like a pair of banshees.

      Impmon flinched and put his claws in his ears, trying to drown them out.

      "... You can just stop.  It's not working on me," Sera said calmly.  She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.  "Stop it right now, or you can go to your room."

      The twins quieted down to soft sniffling as tears trickled down their cheeks.

      "B-but...," Makoto hiccupped.

      "We said we were sorry!" Ai wailed.

      Impmon rolled over on to his side, trying to ignore how guilty he felt.

      "I know, but I don't think you really meant it, or knew what exactly you were sorry for," Sera pointed out.

      The two didn't answer, instead sobbing and looking at her sadly.

      Sera closed her eyes again.  While she had told them it didn't, Ai and Makoto's crying did in fact affect her; she was just good at hiding it.  "... I want you two to go to your room and think about what you've done to Impmon," she said with a forced calm.  "He might come back to you again someday, maybe even to be your digimon again, but until you learn not to be bad, that'll never happen."

      Ai and Makoto sniffed and sobbed, but reluctantly nodded as they trudged into the house sadly.

      Impmon peered over the side, watching quietly as the two trudged slowly to their rooms.  He hated seeing them cry, regardless of what they did to him.  Maybe he was too forgiving or mushy, but he just couldn't hold it against them.  They were just kids, even if a bit bratty and selfish.

      Impmon sighed and slumped against the roof.  He didn't hate the two, or even hold what they did against them.  He was just so very wary of humans because of it.  Not that anyone could blame him, of course.

      Maybe they would one day apologize for what they did and actually understand what it was they were apologizing for.  Until then, however, he didn't have much of a desire to see them face-to-face.

      But that didn't mean he still wasn't looking out for them.


	29. Play Date

Authors' Notes: Whoo hoo!  We're back on our normal 4-day schedule!  I'm sure you all are thrilled.  ^_^  Anyway, we apologize for the comments about flamers in the last chapter.  We insulted poor Numemon by comparing them to those horrible beasts!  We're sorry for those Numemon lovers that we offended.

      Anyway, you know the drill, we don't own Tamers (yet), but we DO own Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters we have, as well as this story.  This chapter is once again divided between normal and yaoi-free.  In case you can't read the chapter titles and need us to remind you of which version you're in here in the authors' notes, you're in the uncensored version of the story with boy/boy love.  In case you dislike that sort of thing, you better go run and see the censored, yaoi-free version now.

      By the way, he's baaaaaaaack.  You have been warned.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 22: Play Date_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Watch me, watch me, big brother!"

      "I'm watching, Shuichon," Jenrya said from where he stood beside the slide Shuichon was currently standing at the top of.

      "And so, the Princess sat all alone in her majestic tower, waiting for a hero to rescue her from the hideous slide monster!" Shuichon cried, dynamically.

      "But oh no!" Shuichon 'gasped'.  "The poor princess was suddenly sacrificed to the hideous monster!"  With that, she giggled and slid down the slide while waving her arms.

      Jenrya couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his little sister innocently playing.  It was just too cute not to.

      Their dad was busy working today, so when Shuichon insisted on coming out to the park, Jenrya was nominated to take her.  He didn't really mind, however, since he had planned on going there with Terriermon anyway.

      Lopmon helped dust sand from Shuichon's clothes as she stood up, who giggled in response.  "Your ears are all tickly, Lopmon!" Shuichon squealed.

      "Ya know, Shuichon's kinda fun to be around when she's not going on and on about Princess Pretty Pants," Terriermon quipped from where he stood on Jenrya's shoulder, having wrapped one of his ears around his Tamer's head to keep his balance.

      "I'll bet," Jenrya chuckled.

      "Hey Jen!"

      "DUDE!"

      "Heya."

      Jenrya blinked and turned around to see Takato, Hirokazu, and Kenta walking towards him along with their digimon.  "Hey guys!" he smiled.

      "Fancy meeting you here!" Hirokazu grinned.

      "Fancy that!" Guardromon agreed.

      "Hey, what'd I say about copying me?" Hirokazu eyed Guardromon.

      Guardromon squeaked and shrugged, helplessly.

      "Yay!" Shuichon squealed from the top of the slides.  "Want to play with me?"

      "Sure!" Guilmon chirped, always in the mood to play, and darted over to the slide.

      "You can be the brave knight!" Shuichon cried.

      "Okay!" Guilmon smiled.  "Should Takato and me become Dukemon first?"

      "Uh, Guilmon, Shuichon means PRETEND to be a knight," Takato sweat-dropped.

      "Oh, okay!" Guilmon nodded in understanding.

      "Heh," Hirokazu leaned back against Guardromon, crossing his arms behind his head.  "Got stuck babysitting?"

      "Yeah, but it's not that bad," Jenrya pointed out.

      "Well... at least there aren't any digimon to worry about," Kenta glanced at Shuichon as Marine Angemon peeked out of his pocket, sleepily.  "It's so quiet... about time, too."

      "Eh, we need a little excitement sometimes!" Hirokazu snorted as he cracked his neck.

      "Sometimes!" Guardromon piped up.

      Hirokazu eyed Guardromon who shrugged.

      "Speaking of which... any more robberies or sightings?" Jenrya looked at Takato, calmly.

      Takato shook his head.  "None that I know of.  At least they didn't try to rob our store a second time.  It would've been impossible to try to convince my parents that we were robbed twice by cross-dressing digimon," he grimaced.  "I don't even know if they really believed me when I told them yesterday."

      "Hopefully it doesn't mean anything," Jenrya muttered.

      "Dude, I'm not even sure I really believe you," Hirokazu commented.  "I mean, come on!  Cross-dressing digimon?  That's as crazy as Kenta biomerging with Marine Angemon."

      "Pipi?" Marine Angemon muttered, sleepily.

      "Hey, it could happen!" Kenta grunted, to himself.

      "Hey!  It really happened!" Takato protested, his face flushed.  "Why would I make up something like that!?"

      "Dude, I dunno!" Hirokazu shrugged.  "Maybe yer in to that sort of thing?"

      "Why would I-!?" Takato sputtered, but was interrupted.

      "AAAAAAAAH!  LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT!"

      "Eh?" was all Takato had time to say as he turned around and was crashed into by a black and silver blur.

      "AAAAAH!" came the terrified shriek as the two went rolling before coming to a stop on the ground in a tangled heap.

      The blur was in fact Tsuyosa.  He wore tight black bicycle pants with a matching black tank top, a vest like his usual one, but silver instead of black, and silver safety pads.  Black skates with silver trim rested on his feet and a black bike helmet clung to his head, unceremoniously disheveled.

      Tsuyosa grunted, dazed and disoriented, as he fumbled to try and figure out which way was up and which way was down.

      "Urgh...," Takato moaned as he held his head, which was sore from where he hit the ground.  "What the...?"

      "Tsuyosa?" Jenrya blinked as he hurried over to the fallen boys, concerned.

      "Whoa, what's with the outfit?" Terriermon blinked.

      "Sorry, sorry...," came the dazed and wavering squeak as Tsuyosa tried to get up.  However, his skates had other plans the moment they hit the ground.  He let out a startled squeal as he slipped and fell on Takato once more.

      "Oof!" Takato grunted and blinked at Tsuyosa.

      "Ow...," Tsuyosa tried to fix his helmet, which chose that moment to fall over his face.

      "TSUUUU!"

      ChibiBa bounded over to the fallen boys, quite hysterical.

      "Are you okay!?  Are you okay!?" ChibiBa wailed as he lunged to tackle Tsuyosa, which caused the boy to fall over again on to Takato.

      "ACK!" Takato yelped as he was used as a landing pad yet again.

      "I'm fine... I'm fine...," Tsuyosa muttered, muffled by the fact that his face was being crushed against Takato's chest.  "... I can't do this."

      Takato blushed faintly as he realized what sort of position Tsuyosa had fallen onto him in.  "U-um...," Takato stammered.

      ChibiBa noticed it too, however.

      The little Mega let out a cry that sounded much like a wounded animal and grabbed Tsuyosa, yanking him up off of Takato and setting him down on the ground carefully.

      "Opportunistic-!" ChibiBa hissed quietly.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked as he slowly sat up.

      Tsuyosa fixed his helmet, sitting on the ground near Takato as ChibiBa dusted himself off.

      "You okay, Tsuyosa?" Sera called as she skated over to the boys.

      "I'm fine...  I'm fine..." Tsuyosa sighed, weakly.  "I'm just not good at this..."

      "Sera?  Hey, where's-," Hirokazu paused, then stared.

      Impmon glowered darkly, dangling in Sera's arms as he crossed his own in an obvious sulk.  He wore skates, just like Sera and Tsuyosa, but his were obviously meant for a six year old.  Such a fact was obvious as they were small enough to fit, and completely decorated with Hello Kitty.  Even Impmon's safety pads and helmet bore the face of a certain Hello Kitty.

      "... DUDE...," Hirokazu stared, then covered his mouth so he wouldn't burst out laughing.  "... DUDE!!!"

      Terriermon blinked slowly then burst out cackling, unable to hold it back and not wanting to.  He fell down backwards off of Jenrya's shoulders, thunking onto the ground.  "Ow...," he muttered before he resumed cackling his head off at Impmon.

      "Die," was Impmon's only retort.

      Tsuyosa sighed as he sat on the ground, then grinned sheepishly at Takato.  "Sorry..."

      "It's okay," Takato said, returning the smile slightly.

      "PRINCESS PRETTY PANTS!"

      Shuichon ran over to Impmon, squealing in delight.  "Oooh!  You're so beautiful, princess!" she cried.  "I love Hello Kitty too!"

      "..." Impmon scowled.

      "Maybe I should quit...," Tsuyosa sighed.  "I can't do it."

      "Yes you can!" ChibiBa soothed.  "You just have to practice!"

      "Um...  Are you giving them skating lessons, Sera?" Jenrya blinked slowly, trying hard not to crack a smile at the sight of Impmon in hot pink skating gear.

      "Yeah, but I'm not having too much luck at it," Sera sweat-dropped.  "Their attitudes are slowing things down."

      "..." Impmon glowered.

      "I'm sorry...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      Sera shook her head.  "You don't have to be sorry, but I want you to stop putting yourself down or you're never going to learn," she pointed out.  She then looked down at Impmon.  "And you're going to have to get over how you look.  I've already explained at least 20 times already that those were the only pieces of equipment in your size."

      "... ... ..." Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "She's got a point, Tsuyosa," Takato commented as he glanced at Tsuyosa.

      "... I just keep falling down!" Tsuyosa sighed.

      "It's because you're not concentrating on your balance," Sera commented.

      "... I should just quit...," Tsuyosa sighed.  "I'm wasting everyone's time."

      "Noooo!" ChibiBa nuzzled Tsuyosa.  "No, Tsu!  You're doing fine!"

      "No you're not," Sera said firmly.  "It just takes a lot of practice."

      "I think I have the whole 'falling down' business down pretty well," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "You just need to practice staying on your feet now!" ChibiBa said, cheerfully, as he helped Tsuyosa on to his skates.

      "Sera's right, Tsuyosa," Takato commented.  "You've just got to keep practicing."

      "..." Tsuyosa sighed as he fought to stay on his feet, his legs locked and his entire body tense.  "I know..."

      "... Hey man," Hirokazu suddenly leaned towards Takato.

      "... He has a nice butt, huh?" Hirokazu smirked, slyly.  "Especially in those pants."

      Takato's eyes bugged out and his face turned bright red at Hirokazu's remark.  "E-E-EH!?" Takato squeaked.

      "You tellin' me he doesn't?" Hirokazu grinned.

      "W-w-well I... I haven't really... really looked at it...," Takato stammered, embarrassed.

      "Dude, he was all up against you and it never occurred to you?" Hirokazu eyed Takato, oddly.

      Takato squeaked again as his face turned candy apple red.

      "Dude, you are so pathetic," Hirokazu grunted.  "I mean, geez.  Even I noticed how tight those pants are!"

      Takato could only squeak in response as he stared at Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu grabbed Takato's head and turned him, making him look at Tsuyosa.  "You can NOT tell me you don't see that!"

      "I-I-I-I," Takato stammered, unable to form coherent sentences.

      Tsuyosa didn't notice as he fumbled to keep upright, bending over slightly as ChibiBa held his hand for support.

      Takato squeaked loudly again, and blushed brilliantly as he couldn't help but notice Tsuyosa's insanely tight pants.

      "Dude, those are tight pants," Hirokazu observed.

      Takato was barely able to nod in agreement.

      Shuichon tugged at Sera's jacket, gaining the attention of the teenager.  "Hey, lady, may I play with your partner?" Shuichon asked innocently.  "I wanna have a tea party with Princess Pretty Pants!"

      "Shuichon, Impmon isn't-," Jenrya began.

      "She ain't his Tamer!" Hirokazu snorted.  "He just hangs out with her and bothers her."

      "... HEY!" Impmon glowered.

      "Yes she is!" Shuichon said with a slight pout, hands on her hips.  "She's got a D-Arc and everything too!"  She pointed at the white and purple device hooked onto the chain at Sera's side for emphasis.  "So there!"  Shuichon then stuck out her tongue at Hirokazu.  "NYAH!"

      "Eh?" Hirokazu blinked and leaned forward to see.

      "Yeah," Impmon grinned, smugly.  "Nyah!"

      Sera blinked then freed a hand to unhook her D-Arc and held it up for everyone to see.  "That's right, we're partners," she said with a smile.

      "When did this happen?" Jenrya blinked, confused.

      "HAH!" Impmon pointed at Hirokazu.  "IN YOUR FACE!"

      "... Well, dude!" Hirokazu blinked.  "I thought those two kids were your Tamers."

      "They're her cousins," Impmon said, calmly.  "Misunderstanding."

      "Oh, I see," Jenrya blinked, sensing that the situation was probably a deceptively complex one.

      "See?  You're doing it!" ChibiBa cackled suddenly as he tromped backwards past the group, holding Tsuyosa's hands. Tsuyosa was bent forward, clinging to ChibiBa as he was slowly pulled along on his skates.

      "You're doing great, Tsuyosa!" Sera cheered.  "Just keep concentrating on your balance, and loosen up slightly or you won't be able to react quickly."

      Takato stared in silence, still blushing brightly from the sight of Tsuyosa in insanely tight shorts and Hirokazu's comments.

      "O-okay!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he clung tightly to ChibiBa's claws, who slowly pulled him along the ground.

      "You'll get the hang of it!" ChibiBa beamed up at his Tamer.

      "... Dude, that's quite a view," Hirokazu observed, loud enough for Takato to hear.

      Takato squeaked loudly and stared at Hirokazu for a moment before he looked back at Tsuyosa.

      Sera looked down at Impmon.  "Are you ready to try skating too?" she asked.

      "... They're going to laugh!" Impmon protested.  He paused and pointed at Terriermon.  "He's STILL laughing!"

      Terriermon couldn't respond as he rolled around on the ground holding his sides as they ached so much from how hard he was laughing.

      "Well, if they were going to laugh at how you skate, they would've already started laughing at Tsuyosa, and no one's laughing at him," Sera pointed out as she hooked her D-Arc back into its prior place.

      "He's not wearing Hello Kitty," Impmon pointed out.  "And if they DID laugh, ChibiBa'd go after some squirrels, if you catch my hint."

      "I guess you have a point," Sera admitted.

      "Why would we tease him, anyway?" Hirokazu said, a little too loudly.  "It's such a lovely view, isn't it Takato?"

      Takato could only make noises that couldn't be comprehended.

      Shuichon tugged on Sera's jacket again.  "Hey, lady, you never answered!" Shuichon pouted.  "May I play with Princess Pretty Pants?"

      "'Princess Pretty Pants'?" Sera repeated, blinking at Shuichon.  Suddenly an idea crossed her mind.  "How about you help him skate, like ChibiBa's helping Tsuyosa?"

      "Yay!  Yay!" Shuichon cheered happily.  "Princess Pretty Pants and me are gonna play!"

      "..." Impmon twitched but said nothing.

      Sera carefully set Impmon down onto the concrete, holding onto him to keep him balanced until Shuichon eagerly reached out and took a hold of Impmon's hands.  Impmon clung to Shuichon's hands, thankful he didn't have to bend up or down very far to keep hold, and tried to concentrate on balancing.  His legs shook as he tried to keep control of them, despite the loss of traction.

      "Come on, princess!  Let's pretend you're gliding along the clouds and dancing with your prince!" Shuichon giggled as she started walking backwards.

      "ACK!" Impmon yelped as he started to move and didn't have time to reply as his legs went rigid.

      "Go slow!" Sera warned.  "Or he'll fall down."

      "Okay!" Shuichon replied and made sure to walk extra slowly as she pulled Impmon along.

      "Oh... this is... this is priceless...," Terriermon gasped between laughter as he wiped tears away from his eyes.  "Someone... someone get a camera!"

      "Cute!" Hirokazu smirked, then paused and leaned towards Takato.  "But not as cute as SOME THINGS, eh?"

      "..." Takato could only blush.

      "You're doing great, Impmon!" Sera smiled cheerfully.  "Just keep concentrating on your balance."

      "Eeeeeeeeh!" was all Impmon could respond with as he clung to Shuichon's hands with a death grip.

      "EEEP!" Tsuyosa fumbled, then gasped as he arched his back, barely saving himself from a fall.

      "Don't worry!  I'm here!" ChibiBa assured his Tamer.

      Takato stared at Tsuyosa, blushing badly.

      "SEEEEERAAAAAA!!!"

      "...!?" Tsuyosa jerked and looked up, eyes wide.

      "... Eh?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "... I know that voice!" Impmon hissed.  "THAT DAMN STALKER!"

      Sera blinked, tensing, and turned just in time to be suddenly glomped by Akkenai.

      "Oh dear!" Guardromon squeaked.  "We can't hide!  He's seen us!"

      "HIIII SEEERAAAA!" Akkenai squealed as he snuggled himself against Sera in wicked ways.

      "GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!!!" Sera screamed bloody murder before she punched Akkenai and sent him sprawling backwards.

      "Not him again," Jenrya muttered.

      "That's just shameless," Kenta sighed.

      "Oh!" Shuichon gasped.  "Why did she hit him?  He was just giving her a hug."

      "Uh...  He was touching her in ways he shouldn't have, Shuichon," Jenrya tried to explain, sweat-dropping.

      "He's a pervert," Impmon replied, and then leaned close.  "He's a wicked, wicked duke who wants to take advantage of her!"

      "Oh my!" Shuichon gasped in horror.  "Someone get a prince quickly to rescue the princess!"

      "Yes!" Impmon agreed, vigorously.

      "Ow...  Why'd you hit me, Sera?" Akkenai whined as he looked up at Sera sadly.  "I was just saying hi!"

      "He never learns," ChibiBa hissed as he tugged Tsuyosa, trying to get him far from Akkenai.

      "Eeee," Tsuyosa gulped.

      Strangely enough Akkenai didn't seem to notice the digimon, or, if he did, ignored them.  It was most likely the former, however.

      "Pi?" Marine Angemon blinked, then stuck out his tongue.  "Piii!"

      "Yes, he definitely is," Hirokazu agreed.

      "You understood?" Kenta stared.

      "How many translations of 'Pi' are there?" Hirokazu grinned, sticking his tongue out with the 'pi'.

      Sera crossed her arms across her chest as she glared at Akkenai, who was scrambling to his feet.  "Seeeraaaa, how about some nookie?" he asked 'innocently'.

      Instead of responding, Sera calmly kicked Akkenai in the shin and sent him sprawling onto the concrete.

      "Owwww...," he whined.

      "... I don't even think he notices us," Lopmon blinked.

      "Or he doesn't care," Terriermon added, the scene having been enough to make him finally stop laughing at Impmon.

      "EEP!" Tsuyosa stared downwards, the kick having sent Akkenai dangerously close to him.

      Akkenai blinked repeatedly as he glanced up at Tsuyosa.  A large grin broke out across his features as he noticed the younger boy, but apparently not the digimon dragging him along.  "TSUUUUUU!" Akkenai squealed and reached out to grab Tsuyosa's leg.

      "ACK!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he fumbled.  "C-careful!  CAREFUL!  I'm... I'm going to fall!"

      "Let go, creep!" ChibiBa hissed.  "Or you're in for it!"

      Takato blinked and shook his head as he finally recovered from his mind locking up over embarrassment.  He glared at Akkenai.  "HEY!  LEAVE TSUYOSA ALONE!" he snapped.

      "Let's do something more fun than skating!" Akkenai grinned as he yanked Tsuyosa down, ignoring everyone else.

      "ACK!" Tsuyosa shrieked as he fell down, arms flailing.  "AAAAAH!!!"

      "TSU!" ChibiBa yelped.

      "TSUYOSA!" Takato cried as he darted over to Tsuyosa.

      "Oh dear!  Looks like the prince has been captured by the evil duke!" Shuichon gasped.

      "Oooh!  Nice pants!" Akkenai grinned lecherously as he grabbed at Tsuyosa's rear.

      "H-HEY!" Tsuyosa yelped.

      However, ChibiBa had a different reaction.

      He stood there, silent at first like a statue, before he suddenly started to quake.  Slowly, he lifted his head to glare at Akkenai with an expression so hateful, it frightened all the birds from their trees.

      _"AAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII,"_ he hissed, his voice deep and demonic.

      Akkenai blinked and looked up, actually taking notice of ChibiBa for the first time.  His eyes widened into the size of dinner plates as he let out a shrill scream.  "GOBLIN!!!" he shrieked as he scrambled to his feet and took off like a shot.

      ChibiBa quivered again, his head slowly turning to watch Akkenai before he crouched.  "YOU... ARE... DEAD!" he shrieked, then suddenly took off like a bat out of hell.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he fell on to the ground, then looked up.

      "They run fast too," Guilmon noted.

      "C-Chibi-!" Tsuyosa began, but it was too late.  ChibiBa was gone.

      "Are you okay?" Takato asked with concern as he kneeled down next to Tsuyosa.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... Just a little scraped and humiliated."

      "ChibiBa and Takato to the rescue!" Hirokazu chuckled.

      Takato blushed faintly at the comment.

      "And the evil duke is beaten!" Shuichon chirped.  "Thanks to the two brave knights!"

      "Hmmm," Hirokazu looked at Kenta.  "That actually worked out pretty nicely!"

      "Ah?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      Kenta blinked then nodded as he figured out what Hirokazu meant.  "Yeah it did," Kenta commented.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked.

      "What worked?"  Impmon arched an eyebrow.  "She got molest-," he paused and eyed Shuichon, then coughed.  "She was being harassed by that evil duke!"

      Sera gave Hirokazu a side-ways glance as she kept her arms crossed across her chest.

      "No, no!" Hirokazu shook his hands in a negative gesture.  "Not for Sera!  For Tsuyosa!"

      "Me?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "What about him?" Takato blinked.

      "No ChibiBa," Hirokazu grinned, wolfishly.

      "... H-huh?" Tsuyosa stared.  "I don't understand..."

      "Eh?" Takato blinked again.

      "... Oh geez, you're both pathetic!" Hirokazu sighed as he stood up and cracked his knuckles.  "Wonder Kazu to the rescue. Again."

      "Wonder Kazu," Guardromon agreed.

      Hirokazu glanced at Guardromon, then sighed and strode over to Takato.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked at Hirokazu.

      "Okay, Takato.  Do you want to take Tsuyosa on a DATE?" Hirokazu asked, calmly.

      "AH?!" Takato squeaked, blushing brilliantly.

      "GOOD!" Hirokazu beamed, as if Takato had agreed.  "Tsuyosa?  Do you want to go on a date with Takato?"

      "A-ah?!" Tsuyosa stared.

      "WONDERFUL!" Hirokazu cackled.  He grabbed the two and hefted them up.  "GO!  Have fun!  Now!"  Hirokazu grabbed Tsuyosa's hand and shoved it in to Takato's, then backed up and admired his handiwork.

      "... H-hah?" Tsuyosa paled and squeaked, looking at Takato with wide eyes.

      Takato yelped then looked at Tsuyosa and blushed deeply.

      "Better hurry before you're late for your date," Kenta commented, smiling.

      "Aw, come ON!" Hirokazu growled.  "You're a perfect couple! Aren't they!?"

      "A-ah...?" Tsuyosa blinked, then blushed delicately as his hand seemed to relax in Takato's own.

      "So that's what Hirokazu was up to," Jenrya muttered to himself as he remembered how oddly Hirokazu had acted back at camp.

      "Does this mean he's a princess and Takato's a brave knight and they're gonna ride off into the sunset on a white horse?" Shuichon asked innocently.

      "U-um," Takato fumbled, not knowing what to do aside from holding Tsuyosa's hand.  All he knew that he was insanely embarrassed.

      Impmon cackled, then tilted his head and grinned.

      "Hopefully!" Hirokazu smirked, then winked.  "Aw, come on. You can't tell me that they don't look cute together!"

      "Pipipi!" Marine Angemon said happily.

      "They look like two peas in a pod!" Hirokazu grinned.

      "Peas in a pod!" Guardromon agreed.

      "... I told you to stop that!"

      Sera glanced at Hirokazu, then at Takato and Tsuyosa.  She shook her head slightly, smiling a bit.  "You two go off and do whatever and ignore what everyone says," she commented.  "Just have fun."  She glanced at Tsuyosa specifically.  "Tsuyosa, we can finish your lesson some other time, okay?"

      "..." Tsuyosa looked at the ground, blushing quietly.

      At least, he was until his feet slipped.

      "EEE!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he fumbled, trying not to fall as the skates had a mind of their own.

      Takato yelped and quickly grabbed Tsuyosa tightly, keeping the other boy from falling.  "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked.

      "A-ah!" Tsuyosa blinked, then flushed.  "Y-yeah... thank you..."

      "... You're welcome," Takato blushed.

      "YAY!  The knight saved his princess!" Shuichon squealed, waving her hands happily.

      Impmon yelped and fell on his butt.

      Terriermon couldn't help himself and started laughing again.  "Awww... did widdle Impmon fall down and go boom?" he cackled.

      "DIE!" Impmon spat, angrily.

      "I think I will if I laugh any harder!" Terriermon gasped before he resumed laughing his head off.

      "..." Impmon glowered.

      "Terriermon," Jenrya scolded.

      "Don't just stand there staring!" Hirokazu cackled as he walked up and pushed the two.  "Go!  Before Chibi-er, anything comes up and stops you!"

      Tsuyosa yelped and clamped on tightly to Takato so that he wouldn't fall, then blinked and blushed even brighter.

      Takato blushed deeply at how close he and Tsuyosa were and shyly started walking with him, knowing that Hirokazu wouldn't leave them alone until they left.

      Tsuyosa squeaked quietly as he was tugged along with Takato, though he didn't seem against the idea.

      "Wonder Kazu strikes again!" Hirokazu cackled.

      "Wonder Kazu," Guardromon nodded.

      Hirokazu debated snapping at his digimon, but simply sighed and shook his head.


	30. Play Date (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: Whoo hoo!  We're back on our normal 4-day schedule!  I'm sure you all are thrilled.  ^_^  Anyway, we apologize for the comments about flamers in the last chapter.  We insulted poor Numemon by comparing them to those horrible beasts!  We're sorry for those Numemon lovers that we offended.

      Anyway, you know the drill, we don't own Tamers (yet), but we DO own Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters we have, as well as this story.  This chapter is once again divided between normal and yaoi-free.  In case you can't read the chapter titles and need us to remind you of which version you're in here in the authors' notes, you're in the censored, yaoi-free version of the story.  In case you wanted to see yaoi goodness, you better go run and see the uncensored version now.

      By the way, he's baaaaaaaack.  You have been warned.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 22: Play Date_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Watch me, watch me, big brother!"

      "I'm watching, Shuichon," Jenrya said from where he stood beside the slide Shuichon was currently standing at the top of.

      "And so, the Princess sat all alone in her majestic tower, waiting for a hero to rescue her from the hideous slide monster!" Shuichon cried, dynamically.

      "But oh no!" Shuichon 'gasped'.  "The poor princess was suddenly sacrificed to the hideous monster!"  With that, she giggled and slid down the slide while waving her arms.

      Jenrya couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his little sister innocently playing.  It was just too cute not to.

      Their dad was busy working today, so when Shuichon insisted on coming out to the park, Jenrya was nominated to take her.  He didn't really mind, however, since he had planned on going there with Terriermon anyway.

      Lopmon helped dust sand from Shuichon's clothes as she stood up, who giggled in response.  "Your ears are all tickly, Lopmon!" Shuichon squealed.

      "Ya know, Shuichon's kinda fun to be around when she's not going on and on about Princess Pretty Pants," Terriermon quipped from where he stood on Jenrya's shoulder, having wrapped one of his ears around his Tamer's head to keep his balance.

      "I'll bet," Jenrya chuckled.

      "Hey Jen!"

      "DUDE!"

      "Heya."

      Jenrya blinked and turned around to see Takato, Hirokazu, and Kenta walking towards him along with their digimon.  "Hey guys!" he smiled.

      "Fancy meeting you here!" Hirokazu grinned.

      "Fancy that!" Guardromon agreed.

      "Hey, what'd I say about copying me?" Hirokazu eyed Guardromon.

      Guardromon squeaked and shrugged, helplessly.

      "Yay!" Shuichon squealed from the top of the slides.  "Want to play with me?"

      "Sure!" Guilmon chirped, always in the mood to play, and darted over to the slide.

      "You can be the brave knight!" Shuichon cried.

      "Okay!" Guilmon smiled.  "Should Takato and me become Dukemon first?"

      "Uh, Guilmon, Shuichon means PRETEND to be a knight," Takato sweat-dropped.

      "Oh, okay!" Guilmon nodded in understanding.

      "Heh," Hirokazu leaned back against Guardromon, crossing his arms behind his head.  "Got stuck babysitting?"

      "Yeah, but it's not that bad," Jenrya pointed out.

      "Well... at least there aren't any digimon to worry about," Kenta glanced at Shuichon as Marine Angemon peeked out of his pocket, sleepily.  "It's so quiet... about time, too."

      "Eh, we need a little excitement sometimes!" Hirokazu snorted as he cracked his neck.

      "Sometimes!" Guardromon piped up.

      Hirokazu eyed Guardromon who shrugged.

      "Speaking of which... any more robberies or sightings?" Jenrya looked at Takato, calmly.

      Takato shook his head.  "None that I know of.  At least they didn't try to rob our store a second time.  It would've been impossible to try to convince my parents that we were robbed twice by cross-dressing digimon," he grimaced.  "I don't even know if they really believed me when I told them yesterday."

      "Hopefully it doesn't mean anything," Jenrya muttered.

      "Dude, I'm not even sure I really believe you," Hirokazu commented.  "I mean, come on!  Cross-dressing digimon?  That's as crazy as Kenta biomerging with Marine Angemon."

      "Pipi?" Marine Angemon muttered, sleepily.

      "Hey, it could happen!" Kenta grunted, to himself.

      "Hey!  It really happened!" Takato protested, his face flushed.  "Why would I make up something like that!?"

      "Dude, I dunno!" Hirokazu shrugged.  "Maybe yer in to that sort of thing?"

      "Why would I-!?" Takato sputtered, but was interrupted.

      "AAAAAAAAH!  LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT!"

      "Eh?" was all Takato had time to say as he turned around and was crashed into by a black and silver blur.

      "AAAAAH!" came the terrified shriek as the two went rolling before coming to a stop on the ground in a tangled heap.

      The blur was in fact Tsuyosa.  He wore tight black bicycle pants with a matching black tank top, a vest like his usual one, but silver instead of black, and silver safety pads.  Black skates with silver trim rested on his feet and a black bike helmet clung to his head, unceremoniously disheveled.

      Tsuyosa grunted, dazed and disoriented, as he fumbled to try and figure out which way was up and which way was down.

      "Urgh...," Takato moaned as he held his head, which was sore from where he hit the ground.  "What the...?"

      "Tsuyosa?" Jenrya blinked as he hurried over to the fallen boys, concerned.

      "Whoa, what's with the outfit?" Terriermon blinked.

      "Sorry, sorry...," came the dazed and wavering squeak as Tsuyosa tried to get up.  However, his skates had other plans the moment they hit the ground.  He let out a startled squeal as he slipped and fell on Takato once more.

      "Oof!" Takato grunted and blinked at Tsuyosa.

      "Ow...," Tsuyosa tried to fix his helmet, which chose that moment to fall over his face.

      "TSUUUU!"

      ChibiBa bounded over to the fallen boys, quite hysterical.

      "Are you okay!?  Are you okay!?" ChibiBa wailed as he lunged to tackle Tsuyosa, which caused the boy to fall over again on to Takato.

      "ACK!" Takato yelped as he was used as a landing pad yet again.

      "I'm fine... I'm fine...," Tsuyosa muttered, muffled by the fact that his face was being crushed against Takato's chest.  "... I can't do this."

      "U-um...," Takato stammered.

      The little Mega let out a cry that sounded much like a wounded animal and grabbed Tsuyosa, yanking him up off of Takato and setting him down on the ground carefully.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked as he slowly sat up.

      Tsuyosa fixed his helmet, sitting on the ground near Takato as ChibiBa dusted himself off.

      "You okay, Tsuyosa?" Sera called as she skated over to the boys.

      "I'm fine...  I'm fine..." Tsuyosa sighed, weakly.  "I'm just not good at this..."

      "Sera?  Hey, where's-," Hirokazu paused, then stared.

      Impmon glowered darkly, dangling in Sera's arms as he crossed his own in an obvious sulk.  He wore skates, just like Sera and Tsuyosa, but his were obviously meant for a six year old.  Such a fact was obvious as they were small enough to fit, and completely decorated with Hello Kitty.  Even Impmon's safety pads and helmet bore the face of a certain Hello Kitty.

      "... DUDE...," Hirokazu stared, then covered his mouth so he wouldn't burst out laughing.  "... DUDE!!!"

      Terriermon blinked slowly then burst out cackling, unable to hold it back and not wanting to.  He fell down backwards off of Jenrya's shoulders, thunking onto the ground.  "Ow...," he muttered before he resumed cackling his head off at Impmon.

      "Die," was Impmon's only retort.

      Tsuyosa sighed as he sat on the ground, then grinned sheepishly at Takato.  "Sorry..."

      "It's okay," Takato said, returning the smile slightly.

      "PRINCESS PRETTY PANTS!"

      Shuichon ran over to Impmon, squealing in delight.  "Oooh!  You're so beautiful, princess!" she cried.  "I love Hello Kitty too!"

      "..." Impmon scowled.

      "Maybe I should quit...," Tsuyosa sighed.  "I can't do it."

      "Yes you can!" ChibiBa soothed.  "You just have to practice!"

      "Um...  Are you giving them skating lessons, Sera?" Jenrya blinked slowly, trying hard not to crack a smile at the sight of Impmon in hot pink skating gear.

      "Yeah, but I'm not having too much luck at it," Sera sweat-dropped.  "Their attitudes are slowing things down."

      "..." Impmon glowered.

      "I'm sorry...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      Sera shook her head.  "You don't have to be sorry, but I want you to stop putting yourself down or you're never going to learn," she pointed out.  She then looked down at Impmon.  "And you're going to have to get over how you look.  I've already explained at least 20 times already that those were the only pieces of equipment in your size."

      "... ... ..." Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "She's got a point, Tsuyosa," Takato commented as he glanced at Tsuyosa.

      "... I just keep falling down!" Tsuyosa sighed.

      "It's because you're not concentrating on your balance," Sera commented.

      "... I should just quit...," Tsuyosa sighed.  "I'm wasting everyone's time."

      "Noooo!" ChibiBa nuzzled Tsuyosa.  "No, Tsu!  You're doing fine!"

      "No you're not," Sera said firmly.  "It just takes a lot of practice."

      "I think I have the whole 'falling down' business down pretty well," Tsuyosa grunted.

      "You just need to practice staying on your feet now!" ChibiBa said, cheerfully, as he helped Tsuyosa on to his skates.

      "Sera's right, Tsuyosa," Takato commented.  "You've just got to keep practicing."

      "..." Tsuyosa sighed as he fought to stay on his feet, his legs locked and his entire body tense.  "I know..."

      Shuichon tugged at Sera's jacket, gaining the attention of the teenager.  "Hey, lady, may I play with your partner?" Shuichon asked innocently.  "I wanna have a tea party with Princess Pretty Pants!"

      "Shuichon, Impmon isn't-," Jenrya began.

      "She ain't his Tamer!" Hirokazu snorted.  "He just hangs out with her and bothers her."

      "... HEY!" Impmon glowered.

      "Yes she is!" Shuichon said with a slight pout, hands on her hips.  "She's got a D-Arc and everything too!"  She pointed at the white and purple device hooked onto the chain at Sera's side for emphasis.  "So there!"  Shuichon then stuck out her tongue at Hirokazu.  "NYAH!"

      "Eh?" Hirokazu blinked and leaned forward to see.

      "Yeah," Impmon grinned, smugly.  "Nyah!"

      Sera blinked then freed a hand to unhook her D-Arc and held it up for everyone to see.  "That's right, we're partners," she said with a smile.

      "When did this happen?" Jenrya blinked, confused.

      "HAH!" Impmon pointed at Hirokazu.  "IN YOUR FACE!"

      "... Well, dude!" Hirokazu blinked.  "I thought those two kids were your Tamers."

      "They're her cousins," Impmon said, calmly.  "Misunderstanding."

      "Oh, I see," Jenrya blinked, sensing that the situation was probably a deceptively complex one.

      "See?  You're doing it!" ChibiBa cackled suddenly as he tromped backwards past the group, holding Tsuyosa's hands. Tsuyosa was bent forward, clinging to ChibiBa as he was slowly pulled along on his skates.

      "You're doing great, Tsuyosa!" Sera cheered.  "Just keep concentrating on your balance, and loosen up slightly or you won't be able to react quickly."

      "O-okay!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he clung tightly to ChibiBa's claws, who slowly pulled him along the ground.

      "You'll get the hang of it!" ChibiBa beamed up at his Tamer.

      Sera looked down at Impmon.  "Are you ready to try skating too?" she asked.

      "... They're going to laugh!" Impmon protested.  He paused and pointed at Terriermon.  "He's STILL laughing!"

      Terriermon couldn't respond as he rolled around on the ground holding his sides as they ached so much from how hard he was laughing.

      "Well, if they were going to laugh at how you skate, they would've already started laughing at Tsuyosa, and no one's laughing at him," Sera pointed out as she hooked her D-Arc back into its prior place.

      "He's not wearing Hello Kitty," Impmon pointed out.  "And if they DID laugh, ChibiBa'd go after some squirrels, if you catch my hint."

      "I guess you have a point," Sera admitted.

      Shuichon tugged on Sera's jacket again.  "Hey, lady, you never answered!" Shuichon pouted.  "May I play with Princess Pretty Pants?"

      "'Princess Pretty Pants'?" Sera repeated, blinking at Shuichon.  Suddenly an idea crossed her mind.  "How about you help him skate, like ChibiBa's helping Tsuyosa?"

      "Yay!  Yay!" Shuichon cheered happily.  "Princess Pretty Pants and me are gonna play!"

      "..." Impmon twitched but said nothing.

      Sera carefully set Impmon down onto the concrete, holding onto him to keep him balanced until Shuichon eagerly reached out and took a hold of Impmon's hands.  Impmon clung to Shuichon's hands, thankful he didn't have to bend up or down very far to keep hold, and tried to concentrate on balancing.  His legs shook as he tried to keep control of them, despite the loss of traction.

      "Come on, princess!  Let's pretend you're gliding along the clouds and dancing with your prince!" Shuichon giggled as she started walking backwards.

      "ACK!" Impmon yelped as he started to move and didn't have time to reply as his legs went rigid.

      "Go slow!" Sera warned.  "Or he'll fall down."

      "Okay!" Shuichon replied and made sure to walk extra slowly as she pulled Impmon along.

      "Oh... this is... this is priceless...," Terriermon gasped between laughter as he wiped tears away from his eyes.  "Someone... someone get a camera!"

      "Cute!" Hirokazu smirked.

      "You're doing great, Impmon!" Sera smiled cheerfully.  "Just keep concentrating on your balance."

      "Eeeeeeeeh!" was all Impmon could respond with as he clung to Shuichon's hands with a death grip.

      "EEEP!" Tsuyosa fumbled, then gasped as he arched his back, barely saving himself from a fall.

      "Don't worry!  I'm here!" ChibiBa assured his Tamer.

      "SEEEEERAAAAAA!!!"

      "...!?" Tsuyosa jerked and looked up, eyes wide.

      "... Eh?" Hirokazu blinked.

      "... I know that voice!" Impmon hissed.  "THAT DAMN STALKER!"

      Sera blinked, tensing, and turned just in time to be suddenly glomped by Akkenai.

      "Oh dear!" Guardromon squeaked.  "We can't hide!  He's seen us!"

      "HIIII SEEERAAAA!" Akkenai squealed as he snuggled himself against Sera in wicked ways.

      "GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!!!" Sera screamed bloody murder before she punched Akkenai and sent him sprawling backwards.

      "Not him again," Jenrya muttered.

      "That's just shameless," Kenta sighed.

      "Oh!" Shuichon gasped.  "Why did she hit him?  He was just giving her a hug."

      "Uh...  He was touching her in ways he shouldn't have, Shuichon," Jenrya tried to explain, sweat-dropping.

      "He's a pervert," Impmon replied, and then leaned close.  "He's a wicked, wicked duke who wants to take advantage of her!"

      "Oh my!" Shuichon gasped in horror.  "Someone get a prince quickly to rescue the princess!"

      "Yes!" Impmon agreed, vigorously.

      "Ow...  Why'd you hit me, Sera?" Akkenai whined as he looked up at Sera sadly.  "I was just saying hi!"

      "He never learns," ChibiBa hissed as he tugged Tsuyosa, trying to get him far from Akkenai.

      "Eeee," Tsuyosa gulped.

      Strangely enough Akkenai didn't seem to notice the digimon, or, if he did, ignored them.  It was most likely the former, however.

      "Pi?" Marine Angemon blinked, then stuck out his tongue.  "Piii!"

      "Yes, he definitely is," Hirokazu agreed.

      "You understood?" Kenta stared.

      "How many translations of 'Pi' are there?" Hirokazu grinned, sticking his tongue out with the 'pi'.

      Sera crossed her arms across her chest as she glared at Akkenai, who was scrambling to his feet.  "Seeeraaaa, how about some nookie?" he asked 'innocently'.

      Instead of responding, Sera calmly kicked Akkenai in the shin and sent him sprawling onto the concrete.

      "Owwww...," he whined.

      "... I don't even think he notices us," Lopmon blinked.

      "Or he doesn't care," Terriermon added, the scene having been enough to make him finally stop laughing at Impmon.

      "EEP!" Tsuyosa stared downwards, the kick having sent Akkenai dangerously close to him.

      Akkenai blinked repeatedly as he glanced up at Tsuyosa.  A large grin broke out across his features as he noticed the younger boy, but apparently not the digimon dragging him along.  "TSUUUUUU!" Akkenai squealed and reached out to grab Tsuyosa's leg.

      "ACK!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he fumbled.  "C-careful!  CAREFUL!  I'm... I'm going to fall!"

      "Let go, creep!" ChibiBa hissed.  "Or you're in for it!"

      Takato blinked and glared at Akkenai.  "HEY!  LEAVE TSUYOSA ALONE!" he snapped.

      "Let's do something more fun than skating!" Akkenai grinned as he yanked Tsuyosa down, ignoring everyone else.

      "ACK!" Tsuyosa shrieked as he fell down, arms flailing.  "AAAAAH!!!"

      "TSU!" ChibiBa yelped.

      "TSUYOSA!" Takato cried as he darted over to Tsuyosa.

      "Oh dear!  Looks like the prince has been captured by the evil duke!" Shuichon gasped.

      "Oooh!  Nice pants!" Akkenai grinned lecherously as he grabbed at Tsuyosa's rear.

      "H-HEY!" Tsuyosa yelped.

      However, ChibiBa had a different reaction.

      He stood there, silent at first like a statue, before he suddenly started to quake.  Slowly, he lifted his head to glare at Akkenai with an expression so hateful, it frightened all the birds from their trees.

      _"AAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII."_ he hissed, his voice deep and demonic.

      Akkenai blinked and looked up, actually taking notice of ChibiBa for the first time.  His eyes widened into the size of dinner plates as he let out a shrill scream.  "GOBLIN!!!" he shrieked as he scrambled to his feet and took off like a shot.

      ChibiBa quivered again, his head slowly turning to watch Akkenai before he crouched.  "YOU... ARE... DEAD!" he shrieked, then suddenly took off like a bat out of hell.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he fell on to the ground, then looked up.

      "They run fast too," Guilmon noted.

      "C-Chibi-!" Tsuyosa began, but it was too late.  ChibiBa was gone.

      "Are you okay?" Takato asked with concern as he kneeled down next to Tsuyosa.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... Just a little scraped and humiliated."

      "ChibiBa and Takato to the rescue!" Hirokazu chuckled.

      "And the evil duke is beaten!" Shuichon chirped.  "Thanks to the two brave knights!"

      "Hmmm," Hirokazu looked at Kenta.  "That actually worked out pretty nicely!"

      "Ah?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      Kenta blinked then nodded as he figured out what Hirokazu meant.  "Yeah it did," Kenta commented.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked.

      "What worked?"  Impmon arched an eyebrow.  "She got molest-," he paused and eyed Shuichon, then coughed.  "She was being harassed by that evil duke!"

      Sera gave Hirokazu a side-ways glance as she kept her arms crossed across her chest.

      "No, no!" Hirokazu shook his hands in a negative gesture.  "Not for Sera!  For Tsuyosa!"

      "Me?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "What about him?" Takato blinked.

      "No ChibiBa," Hirokazu grinned, wolfishly.

      "... H-huh?" Tsuyosa stared.  "I don't understand..."

      "Eh?" Takato blinked again.

      "... Oh geez, you're both pathetic!" Hirokazu sighed as he stood up and cracked his knuckles.  "Wonder Kazu to the rescue. Again."

      "Wonder Kazu," Guardromon agreed.

      Hirokazu glanced at Guardromon, then sighed and strode over to Takato.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked at Hirokazu.

      Hirokazu grabbed the two and hefted them up.  "GO!  Have fun!  Now!"

      "... H-hah?" Tsuyosa paled and squeaked, looking at Takato with wide eyes.

      Takato yelped then looked at Tsuyosa.

      "Better hurry before you're late," Kenta commented, smiling.

      "Aw, come ON!" Hirokazu growled.

      "A-ah...?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "So that's what Hirokazu was up to," Jenrya muttered to himself as he remembered how oddly Hirokazu had acted back at camp.

      "U-um," Takato fumbled, not knowing what to do.  All he knew that he was insanely embarrassed.

      Impmon cackled, then tilted his head and grinned.

      "Pipipi!" Marine Angemon said happily.

      "They look like two peas in a pod!" Hirokazu grinned.

      "Peas in a pod!" Guardromon agreed.

      "... I told you to stop that!"

      Sera glanced at Hirokazu, then at Takato and Tsuyosa.  She shook her head slightly, smiling a bit.  "You two go off and do whatever and ignore what everyone says," she commented.  "Just have fun."  She glanced at Tsuyosa specifically.  "Tsuyosa, we can finish your lesson some other time, okay?"

      "..." Tsuyosa looked at the ground.

      At least, he was until his feet slipped.

      "EEE!" Tsuyosa squeaked as he fumbled, trying not to fall as the skates had a mind of their own.

      Takato yelped and quickly grabbed Tsuyosa tightly, keeping the other boy from falling.  "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked.

      "A-ah!" Tsuyosa blinked.  "Y-yeah... thank you..."

      "... You're welcome."

      "YAY!" Shuichon squealed, waving her hands happily.

      Impmon yelped and fell on his butt.

      Terriermon couldn't help himself and started laughing again.  "Awww... did widdle Impmon fall down and go boom?" he cackled.

      "DIE!" Impmon spat, angrily.

      "I think I will if I laugh any harder!" Terriermon gasped before he resumed laughing his head off.

      "..." Impmon glowered.

      "Terriermon," Jenrya scolded.

      "Don't just stand there staring!" Hirokazu cackled as he walked up and pushed the two.  "Go!  Before Chibi-er, anything comes up and stops you!"

      Tsuyosa yelped and clamped on tightly to Takato so that he wouldn't fall, then blinked.

      Takato started walking with Tsuyosa, knowing that Hirokazu wouldn't leave them alone until they left.

      Tsuyosa squeaked quietly as he was tugged along with Takato, though he didn't seem against the idea.

      "Wonder Kazu strikes again!" Hirokazu cackled.

      "Wonder Kazu," Guardromon nodded.

      Hirokazu debated snapping at his digimon, but simply sighed and shook his head.


	31. Rocky Horror Picture Show

Authors' Notes: Hey everybody!  As you probably know already, we're late in posting this new chapter.  We're sorry about that, but a crisis came up in my (Yuki) personal life concerning my cat's health and I simply was too worried about getting him treatment to think about posting.  Luckily, the crisis is over now and my cat's going to be better, so I can happily post the next chapter.  ^_^

      As always, Digimon doesn't belong to us (not for lack of trying), but this story and the new characters in it are, so no stealing!

      This chapter is once again divided between the original, uncut version, and the censored yaoi-free version.  In case you miss the (Yaoi-Free) marker, I'm here to give you final warning on such a thing: You are in the uncensored version of the story.  If you didn't want to be because you don't like reading about boy/boy love, then you'd best go back and look for the (Yaoi-Free) mark.  In case you really did mean to come to this version, then I'll just stop talking now and let you start reading.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 23: Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa walked quietly down the street by Takato, holding his backpack tightly in his arms.  Before the two got very far, he had the forethought to grab his backpack, change in to his shoes, and remove his safety equipment so he could walk.

      "... So... where do you want to go?" Takato asked shyly as he looked at Tsuyosa.

      "I, uh...," Tsuyosa blinked, then looked at the ground.  "I don't... know.  I don't go places very much."

      "Oh," Takato nodded slowly then pondered.  "Hmm..."  He blinked and glanced up as he noticed that they were passing in front of the movie theater.  "... How about seeing a movie?"

      "Oh?" Tsuyosa looked up and blinked, then nodded.  "Okay..."

      Takato walked over to the movie theater with Tsuyosa and glanced over the titles of what was currently playing.  "... Hey, the newest Digimon movie is out," Takato pointed.

      "Do you want to see it?" Tsuyosa asked as he pulled out his wallet.

      "Yeah, but you don't have to pay," Takato blushed lightly, idly feeling like he was taking advantage of Tsuyosa's generosity and wealth.

      "No, it's okay," Tsuyosa smiled slightly as he approached the counter.  "I don't mind..."

      "Well... okay," Takato fidgeted as he smiled back at Tsuyosa shyly.

      Tsuyosa paid for the tickets, as well as popcorn and soda despite any protest Takato tried to offer.

      "I don't mind, really," Tsuyosa muttered shyly as he walked down the isle to find a seat.

      "Well...  I just don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of you, Tsuyosa," Takato mumbled as he walked alongside the other boy.

      "You're not...," Tsuyosa looked at Takato, then stared at the floor.  "... It's the least I can do after what I put you through."

      Takato blinked then shook his head.  "... Tell you what...," he began.  "You stop feeling bad about what happened, and I'll stop feeling bad about you paying, okay?"

      "... Alright..."

      Takato smiled at Tsuyosa as they made their way to a pair of seats near the back of the theater.

      Tsuyosa smiled back weakly and sat down in one of them, looking very shy and uncertain.

      Takato sat down next to Tsuyosa, blushing as their arms brushed against each other.

      Tsuyosa blushed as well, though he didn't say anything in response.

      The lights started to dim as the previews started rolling on the theater screen.

      Tsuyosa blinked as it grew dark, then slumped slightly in his chair and tried to relax.  He had never been to a theatre before, though he'd never admit it to Takato.  He hadn't done much of anything that most children did.  He wasn't sure how to act or what to say, so he simply did neither and sat as still as he possibly could.

      Most of the people sitting up at the very front or middle, leaving the back row to Takato and Tsuyosa.  Takato noticed this fact as he glanced around the darkened theater.  He glanced at Tsuyosa, noticing how the glow from the screen seemed to accentuate how cute he was.  Shyly Takato reached out and took a hold of Tsuyosa's hand.  Tsuyosa tensed at first, then slowly relaxed. His fingers curled shyly in Takato's hand, soft and nervously.

      Takato blushed lightly as he smiled shyly at Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa smiled back, his eyes glittering due to the movie screen's glow as his cheeks tinted ever so slightly.  After a few moments Takato glanced back at the screen, his face uncomfortably warm.

      Takato could hear Tsuyosa shift slightly, his hand still in Takato's own, then noticed that Tsuyosa had moved so that he was leaning closer to Takato.  Takato blinked then smiled before he leaned towards Tsuyosa in return, their shoulders touching.  The mere contact seemed to have a profound effect as Tsuyosa relaxed, his hand no longer shaking.

      Silently the two sat together like that as they watched the movie.

      After a little while, Takato gathered enough courage to remove his hand from Tsuyosa's and then wrap his arm around the other boy's shoulder as he leaned in a bit closer.  Tsuyosa seemed to make a small noise of protest when Takato released his hand, then blinked and flushed delicately when he felt the arm wrap around him.  Slowly, he leaned his head over until he felt it touch Takato's shoulder.  Takato's blush grew deeper, but he didn't protest the action as no one was watching them in the darkness of the theater.

      Tsuyosa relaxed, though his breathing increased slightly, and tried not to think about how warm Takato felt.  "... If you're uncomfortable...," he began, his voice a bare whisper.  "... I'll stop..."

      "I'm not uncomfortable," Takato whispered.  "... I'm enjoying this..."  He blushed even harder after what he admitted, and was certain his blush was bright enough now that could somehow be seen in the dark

      "... O-okay...," Tsuyosa whispered shyly.  "Just... just tell me if..."

      "I'm fine with this... Tsuyosa...," Takato whispered, equally shy.

      "..."  Tsuyosa didn't reply as he rested his cheek against Takato's shoulder.

      They sat that way in silence for about half the movie, neither speaking nor moving from their comfortable positions.  As time passed, Tsuyosa seemed to grow more and more relaxed against Takato.

      After a while Takato just couldn't concentrate on the movie, no matter how much he enjoyed it, and kept glancing at Tsuyosa.  He felt the urge to do something, but didn't know if this was the appropriate time or place.  Tsuyosa didn't seem to notice as he watched the movie through half lidded eyes, looking quite comfortable and peaceful.  Takato debated inwardly whether to not disturb Tsuyosa or to just go for what he was thinking of.

      However, Takato couldn't help but notice how adorable Tsuyosa looked as the colors reflected off of his pale, soft skin.  Takato found himself slowly leaning in closer to Tsuyosa, until his cheek brushed against the other boy's hair.  Tsuyosa's eyes widened slightly at the touch. He slowly looked upward at Takato, confused and curious.  Takato's blush deepened as he stared into Tsuyosa's eyes.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then blushed as well.  His eyes shimmered with a whirlwind of emotions, but there seemed to be one dominant emotion in his eyes.  Something very encouraging.

      Takato saw this and closed his eyes as he leaned in closer to Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa closed his eyes as well, then slowly leaned up to meet Takato halfway.  Shyly, the two came together in a sweet, chaste kiss.

      Tsuyosa gasped slightly when he felt Takato's lips touch his own, a small tremble racing up his spine.  Something about Takato unnerved him and, oddly enough, he found the sensation rather intoxicating.

      Heat gently coursed through Takato as he and Tsuyosa kissed.  The digimon animated across the movie screen seemed to be a million miles away as he was completely enthralled by the wonderful flavor that was Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa made a small squeak as he unconsciously leaned ever closer, his body starting to shake even more as his emotions twirled like a tornado.  Half of him screamed that they were in public while the other half tried to theorize that the other patrons were too busy with the movie to care what two kids in the back were doing.  However, both sides had to admit that being so close to Takato felt wonderful.

      For the first time in his life, Tsuyosa felt like nothing was amiss. He felt whole and utterly complete.

      Unlike Tsuyosa, no part of Takato took any mind to the other movie patrons.  Virtually every thought on his mind was of the wonderful boy he held closely in his arms.  Nothing else mattered except this precious moment that they were sharing.

      Tsuyosa shivered slightly, his hands reaching up to timidly touch Takato's own.  Takato took Tsuyosa's hands in his and held them gently.  Idly he noticed that the dark seemed to enhance every touch and sensation between them as the sense of sight was all but gone.

      Neither moved for a long while, oblivious to the world as they focused in on only each other.

**_*~*_**

      "Tent repair patches?"

      "Check!"

      "Spare ribbons?"

      "Check!"

      "Spare crystals?"

      "Check!"

      "Tent poles?"

      "Check, check, check!"

      "Millions of boxes of cotton swabs for Black Tailmon's ears?"

      "... Nyar.  Opossomon's BRAIN?"

      "If it's lost, it must've fallen in Black Tailmon's ear."

      "Okay, you two," Pandamon grinned slightly as he tapped a pencil against his checklist.  "Are we going to check out our supplies or are you going to bicker?"

      "Bicker."

      "Bicker."

      "..." Pandamon sighed as he walked further in to the supply tent, passing by boxes and crates of everything from the practical supplies, such as spare parts, to the impractical, such as rubber chickens and a giant chocolate moose.

      "I think we upset the boss, nyar."

      "You think?"

      "... Hey, you didn't count.  Finally stopped, eh?"

      "I got bored after he reached 10,000."

      "Finally."

      "I'll have to do something else to entertain me."

      "Nyar?"

      "... One."

      "..."

      Pandamon ignored the two, scuffling past the boxes and peering in to them as he checked off items they had and circled those they did not.  He paused when he noticed something not on his checklist, then grinned.  "Oh yeah... we never did figure out what this was, did we?" he muttered as he picked up a large, bizarre looking gun.

      "Nyar, I still say we should get rid of it.  Anything that falls from the sky can't be trusted.  It's probably dangerous."

      "It's a gun, of course it's dangerous!" Pandamon chuckled quietly, then put the gun back down.

      "Two!"

      "STOP IT!"

      "Hey...," Pandamon blinked suddenly.  "There's two here!  Did it reproduce?  We only had one before!"

      "Nope, I found another one just like it!"

      "Really?" Pandamon blinked.  "Where?"

      "If you say in my ear, I'll hurt you.  Nyar."

      "In the Real World.  ...  Three!"

      "Huh?  Weird," Pandamon shrugged.  "Oh well... it has to come from somewhere, right?"

      "Right!"

      "..."

      "... Think they fell out of Black Tailmon's giant ears?"

      "... Okay, time to kill you."

**_*~*_**

      People flooded out of the theatre, talking excitedly to themselves or to each other as they headed out in to the streets and destinations unknown.  Behind the mob of humans were Tsuyosa and Takato.  They slowly walked after the others, leaving the theatre at their own casual pace.

      Both were blushing lightly and walking closely together.  The idea of holding the others' hand flittered through each of their minds occasionally, but neither was so bold as to do something like that in front of numerous people.  So, they were forced to simply walk as close as they could while in public.

      "... Takato... I...," Tsuyosa stared at the sidewalk.  "... Thank you... I had a wonderful time..."

      "Me too...," Takato glanced at Tsuyosa before he turned his gaze ahead.  "... Thanks for treating me."

      "S-sure," Tsuyosa replied.  "It's the least I could do..."  He paused, and then laughed a quiet, melodic little laugh.  "But I... don't really remember the movie."

      Takato blushed deeply as he glanced at Tsuyosa out of the corner of his eye.  "... You know, neither do I," Takato laughed nervously.

      "... I... I probably sound stupid but...," Tsuyosa paused and stared, hard, at the sidewalk.  "... But I... I enjoyed...  I mean, I don't really care about missing the movie..."

      "No... you don't sound stupid, Tsuyosa," Takato stopped as well.  "... I liked... being with you."

      "... ..." Tsuyosa refused to look up.  "... No, I...  I... didn't mind missing the movie... because I... I enjoyed..."

      Tsuyosa faltered, then closed his eyes.  "I think I'll just shut up now."

      "No, no, it's okay," Takato fumbled.  "... That's what I meant too."  He blushed even more deeply.

      "I guess it came out wrong, huh?"  Takato laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

      "... N-no, I..." Tsuyosa looked up slightly.  "... Takato, I... I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable...  I just thought that I... was forcing...  I was... being too... um..."

      Takato shook his head vigorously.  "No!  No, no, no!" he protested.  "You didn't...!  Not at all!"

      "... O-oh," Tsuyosa seemed to straighten up again, though his cheeks were crimson.  "... You're sure?"

      "Yeah... I am," Takato blushed as he nodded.

      "I'm glad," Tsuyosa smiled, slightly.  "I-"

      "Oh DEAR!  Do I really have to DESTROY things?"

      "What if I break a nail!?"

      "I just KNOW I'm going to get stains on my new corset!"

      "Quit complaining, ladies.  The master says to destroy, and you're going to destroy even if I have to throw you at the buildings myself."

      Takato blinked and looked up just in time to hear the screaming start and see people fleeing in all directions from a group of digimon that had appeared in the middle of the street.

      Oddly enough, said digimon were wearing women's lingerie.

      "H-huh?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he looked around.

      "-!  It's them!" Takato pointed at the group of digimon.  "There's the digimon that stole from my family's bakery!"

      "... Stole?" Tsuyosa blinked, then paled.  "... W-why are they wearing...?"

      "... I have no idea...  But I do know two of them stole from my family's bakery the other night," Takato hastily explained, realizing he never informed Tsuyosa about the robbery.

      "... But... but t-that's a little indecent...," Tsuyosa blushed slightly.

      "No kidding," Takato blushed as well.

      As the two boys were talking, the cross-dressing digimon started attempting to destroy the nearby buildings and objects at random.  The digimon didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it, however, as they were trying not to ruin their undergarments.  The only one among them that didn't seem to be doing any work was a Lady Devimon, who was, oddly enough, carrying a clipboard and taking notes.

      "Eee!" an Ogremon whimpered as he swatted at the building, his wrist limp.

      "Oh no!  I chipped my nail polish!" a War Monzaemon screeched as it examined its claws, horrified.

      Lady Devimon sighed heavily as she took notes.  "We finally have a choice assignment, and my underlings are all a bunch of pansies," she grumbled to herself with agitation.

      "... ..." Tsuyosa stared, blankly.  "... Should... we be frightened?"

      Takato sweat-dropped as he stared at the digimon ineffectively trying to destroy the city.  "Uh...  I honestly don't know," he blinked slowly.

      Other humans were certainly frightened, despite the display, as they had all long since fled from the scene in terror.

      "OH!  OH!  OH!" a young Devimon squeaked as he tried to stomp on a can with his high heels, then gasped when it crunched underfoot.  "... EEEEEE!"

      "... ..."  Tsuyosa and Takato face-faulted.

      "Oh dear!  LOOK!" a Numemon squealed, pointing with a gooey pseudopod at Tsuyosa and Takato.  "They're not running!"

      Lady Devimon glanced over at the two.  "Why am I not surprised?" she muttered to herself.  She spoke louder as she pointed at the two boys with her pen, glaring at the other digimon.  "Don't just stand there!  GET THEM!"

      The digimon paused, then turned to stare at her.

      "Get them with what?" one asked.

      "Or do you mean get them something like a cream puff?" asked another.

      "I like cream puffs!"

      "Me too!"

      "..." Lady Devimon twitched.  "I MEAN KILL THEM, YOU IDIOTS!!!"

      "... Uh oh!" Tsuyosa paled.

      "Eeeeeee!" Ogremon 'growled' as he waddled towards the two, obviously intent on slapping them with his weak wrists.

      "...  USE YOUR ATTACKS YOU MORON!" Lady Devimon screeched.

      "... Maybe we should start running before they do," Takato said quickly as he grabbed Tsuyosa's hand and started running.  While the entire display was funny in a pathetic sort of way, Takato didn't want to wait to see what Lady Devimon would do to them should she decide to attack herself.

      Tsuyosa glanced back over his shoulder as he ran, gasping for air.  The Ogremon paused, then cursed violently and waddled after them.

      Lady Devimon glared at the rest of the cross-dressing digimon.  "... Well?  What're you all standing around for!?" she demanded.  "START USING YOUR ATTACKS AND DESTROY EVERYTHING!"

      "But... but... I've... I've forgotten how to!"

      "Oh dear, I spent so much energy learning to simply walk in these heels... I don't remember what my attack is!"

      "... ..." Lady Devimon twitched violently.

      "... You'd better relearn them or I'll slaughter the lot of you, absorb all your data, and do it for you," Lady Devimon hissed poisonously as her red eyes flared.

      "EEEEEEEEEEE!" came the collective squeal as the Digimon then hurried to try and remember their attacks.

**_*~*_**

      "... Now look.  I won't ask you again.  WHERE... IS... TSU?"

      ChibiBa glared darkly up at Hirokazu, who looked at him with an innocent expression.

      "I was so sure he and Takato went to the riverside!" Hirokazu muttered, 'absently'.  "That IS the best make-out place around!"

      ChibiBa twitched.

      "I CHECKED," ChibiBa seethed.

      "And Tokyo Tower?" Hirokazu tilted his head.

      "CHECKED," ChibiBa grit his teeth.

      "Hmm...  I think Takato might have mentioned going to the Nerima shopping district," Kenta added 'helpfully'.

      "Are you SURE?" ChibiBa glowered.  "I'd hate to find out you're sending me on a wild goose chase!"

      Kenta sweated slightly and tried not to look nervous as he shrugged.  "Pipi," Marine Angemon commented.

      "Hirokazu, are you sure it's wise to keep deceiving ChibiBa like this?" Guardromon whispered to his partner worriedly.  "He might try to hurt us."

      ChibiBa glanced back and forth between Hirokazu and Kenta, his expression bordering on 'psycho'.

      Impmon chuckled quietly as Shuichon dragged him around slowly, then glanced up at Sera.  "It's like playing Cat and Mouse with a saber-tooth tiger," he observed, winking.

      "I think you're right," Sera giggled.

      "I hope ChibiBa doesn't do anything too terrible too them," Jenrya commented as he kept glancing between them, Shuichon, and his partner, the latter of whom was still laughing at Impmon.

      "Naw, we're fine," Hirokazu replied, winking.  "I mean... he wouldn't want to break his PROMISE, would he?" Hirokazu added, a little louder.

      ChibiBa's cheek twitched but he said nothing.

      "Oooh!  Princess Pretty Pants is gliding along a cloud all pretty as she dances the night away with the Pretty Pants Prince!" Shuichon giggled cutely as she tugged Impmon along.

      Nearby Lopmon had decided to take a nap beneath the shade of a large oak tree.  While Lopmon dearly loved Shuichon, having a little girl for a partner tended to wear the poor Rookie out.

      "ChibiBa can't break his promise.  It'd make people sad," Guilmon agreed, and then blinked.  "What did ChibiBa promise?"

      "Not to hurt anyone," Hirokazu beamed down at ChibiBa.  "Ever."

      "... ..."

      "... I wouldn't push it, Hirokazu," Jenrya sweat-dropped.

      "EEEEEEEEEEEYAAH!"

      "Tsu!?" ChibiBa whirled, his entire demeanor changed.

      "HEEEEEEEEELP!"

      "Takato!?" Jenrya gasped as he instantly recognized the second voice.

      "What the-!?" Impmon looked up, startled.

      "Huh?" Sera blinked.

      Takato and Tsuyosa tore across the park, the stronger boy dragging the other as they gasped.  Behind them, a towering Ogremon in lingerie waddled after them with death in his mascara-covered eye.

      "... ... ..."

      "CHIBIBAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tsuyosa squealed, clinging to Takato's hand.

      "GUUUUUUIIIIIILMOOOOOON!" Takato cried as they darted towards the other Tamers and digimon.

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon cried, then growled as he crouched, his eyes instantly shrinking to small slits.

      However, Tsuyosa's call seemed to have a different effect on ChibiBa.

      Without a word, he took off like a shot directly at the Ogremon.  His eyes glowed a brilliant red as his lips curled up in to a shark like glower, much like a steel trap.  He looked ready to kill someone, which just so happened to be Ogremon.

      The Ogremon paused as the tiny Mega darted towards him, his eyes widening as he recognized a pissed off Mega when he saw one.

      With a terrified squeal, the Ogremon whirled and tried to run away just as the Mega lunged.

      "I AM GOING TO KILL YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!" ChibiBa roared.

      "AAAAAAAH!" Ogremon squealed, scrambling away.  "HELP!  HEEEEEEELP!"

      With a snarl and a powerful kick, ChibiBa sent the Ogremon flying through the air and in to the trees.  A sickening crash issued, followed by a deathly silence as ChibiBa landed on the ground with a grunt and waited for any sign of life.

      Takato and Tsuyosa finally came to a halt, gasping and panting for air.  Guilmon decided that ChibiBa had things under control with the digimon and instead darted over to his Tamer.  "Takato, you okay?" he asked with concern as his eyes became normal again.

      "... Dude," Hirokazu stared.  "What the hell happened?"

      "I... I'm fine... Guilmon," Takato gasped.  "There's... a bunch... of digimon... in women's... underwear... tearing up the town...!"

      A dark aura of negative energy filled the park, creating a thick tension as ChibiBa slowly quivered.  Everyone paused to stare at ChibiBa as he literally radiated hatred.

      "... U-um...," Kenta's glasses fogged up.

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon yelped.

      "..." Impmon's ears drooped.  "... This is generally where I would run."

      "Uh... ChibiBa... you can calm down now...," Sera said cautiously, wary of the diminutive Mega's anger.  "Tsuyosa's fine and the digimon's gone..."

      "B-brother, is he going to explode?" Shuichon gasped.

      "... I hope not, Shuichon," Jenrya muttered as he moved between Shuichon and the angry ChibiBa.

      "OH DEAR!  OH DEAR!" Guardromon squeaked, ducking behind Hirokazu.

      "H-hey... calm down!" Hirokazu whimpered, fearfully.

      "... What's going on?" Lopmon blinked as she became fully awake.  The screams had served to wake her in time to see the dark aura.

      Terriermon blinked as well, finally having stopped laughing.  "Uh, is ChibiBa going to go ballistic?" he asked, sweat-dropping.

      "C-ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "... Chi... ChibiBa?" Takato tensed.

      Guilmon crouched as he backed up a few steps, his ear-wings drooping under the force of ChibiBa's hatred.

      ChibiBa took a few choked gasps, shaking violently with anger before he paused.

      ".... TSUUUUUUUU!" ChibiBa squealed like a happy child in a candy store as he lunged at Tsuyosa and clung to him, desperately.

      "C-ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared as ChibiBa snuggled him, adorably.

      "Talk about a mood swing!" Terriermon blinked.

      "Thank goodness that's over," Jenrya sighed in relief.

      "Whew," Hirokazu relaxed with a sigh against Guardromon.

      "Oh my," Guardromon sighed as well.  "Such a scary digimon!"

      "What was THAT about?" Impmon grunted.

      "He might've thought that cross-dressing Ogremon wanted to do more than attack Tsuyosa," Sera said quietly to Impmon as she kneeled next to her partner, trying to speak quietly enough that Shuichon wouldn't hear her.

      Lopmon walked over to the others.  "What happened here?" she asked.

      "A wicked witch chased the brave Knight Takato and the princess!  The other brave knight must've been put under an evil spell, but when the evil witch was destroyed, it went away and he's gone to be with his princess!" Shuichon nodded sagely.

      "... Right," Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "That's nice, Shuichon," Lopmon said, at a loss for what else to say.

      Suddenly, a large green hand lunged out of the forest brush and grabbed Shuichon easily.

      "ACK!!!" Impmon squeaked as Shuichon was yanked away from him.

      "SHUICHON!" Lopmon cried as she instantly sprang into action.  However, the other hand snapped out and grabbed Lopmon as well.

      Ogremon emerged from the brush, smirking.  "Well then!" he grinned.  "... Bai!"  Without another word, Ogremon took off waddling as fast as his thunder thighs could take him.

      "SHUICHON!" Jenrya cried as he tore off after Ogremon.

      "SHUICHON!  LOPMON!" Terriermon called as he quickly darted after his Tamer.

      "OH DEAR!  OH DEAR!" Guardromon flailed.

      "I thought you killed him!" Hirokazu hissed as he leapt to his feet.

      "Tsuuuu!" ChibiBa purred, ignoring Hirokazu.

      "Oh no!" Sera quickly scrambled to her feet.

      "... We've... got to help...," Tsuyosa gasped, still as winded as when he was running.

      "You're too tired, Tsuyosa," Takato said, having recovered already.  "We'll save Shuichon!"  He looked at Guilmon.  "Come on, Guilmon!"

      "Right, Takato!" Guilmon said as the two of them bolted after the Ogremon.

      "No, I-," Tsuyosa broke off with a pained cough.

      "STAY," ChibiBa said, sternly.

      "..." Tsuyosa looked up as the others darted after the Ogremon.  "... I'm useless..."

      "..." ChibiBa nuzzled Tsuyosa.

      "HELP!  HELP!" Ogremon cried as he ran, holding Shuichon and Lopmon.  "My Lady, HELP!"  He covered quite a lot of ground due to his long stride and soon found himself nearing the other transvestite digimon, regardless of his pursuers.

      Lady Devimon glanced at the Ogremon.  "What is it?" she asked tartly.  "Did you get a run in your stocking?"

      "No, actually, I was attacked by a pissed off Mega," Ogremon replied.  "But I have hostages!" he added, holding up Shuichon and Lopmon.

      "A pissed off Mega?" Lady Devimon repeated blandly.  "That can only mean the Tamers."  She then glanced at Shuichon and Lopmon.  "Hmm...  I guess the master will want to play with those two."  She glanced around at the rest of the cross-dressing digimon who had actually started doing some damage.  "Alright everyone, pack it up!  We're heading back!"

      "EEEE!" came the collective shriek as the digimon whirled and bolted.

      "Eee!" Ogremon agreed as he waddled, holding the two hostages as he ran after the others.

      Lopmon grunted as she struggled to get free from Ogremon's grasp.  "Let us go!" she cried.  "We haven't done anything to you!"

      "Oh, well, I can't!" Ogremon replied.  "If I do, I'd get in big trouble!"

      "At least let Shuichon go!" Lopmon pleaded.  "She's just a child!"

      "No, I'm afraid not," Ogremon replied, then blinked and looked at Shuichon.  "Besides, My Lady would love to meet you!"

      "Is she a princess?" Shuichon blinked innocently, obviously not fully aware of the danger she and Lopmon were in.

      "No, a queen!" Ogremon replied.

      "Yay!" Shuichon cheered.

      Lopmon sweat-dropped, but decided not to say anything since it would only make things worse if she told Shuichon just how much trouble they were in.

      "STOP!" Jenrya screamed as he rounded the corner.  "STOP!"

      "GIVE BACK SHUICHON AND LOPMON!" Terriermon cried from Jenrya's shoulder, where he had hopped onto while they were running.

      "H-hey!" Impmon cried, carrying his skates instead of bothering with trying to use them.  "HEEEY!"

      "How can they be so fast in high heels?" Sera blinked as she skated alongside Impmon.

      "Takato!" Guilmon hissed.  "There's so many!"

      "Yeah," Takato said as his eyes narrowed slightly.  "We're probably gonna have to fight them all to get the girls back!"

      "Eee!  It's the peeping tom!" a Numemon squeaked suddenly.

      "WHAT?!  Really!?  It's the same child!?" Ogremon gasped, shocked.

      "I AM NOT A PEEPING TOM!" Takato cried indignantly.

      "RUN!  HE'LL LOOK AT YOU IN _NAUGHTY_ WAYS!" the Numemon shrieked.

      The digimon screamed fearfully and seemed to run twice as fast as a result.

      "... Uh, Takato?" Impmon glanced at the goggle boy.  "Is there... something you wanna confess?"

      "... I don't think want to know what that was all about," Sera commented, sweat-dropping.

      "... THEY'RE LYING!  I NEVER PEEPED AT ANYONE!" Takato protested hotly.

      "Never mind that!" Jenrya cut in.  "We have to concentrate on saving Shuichon and Lopmon!"

      "Yeah!  We can talk about Takato's perverted tastes later!" Terriermon quipped.

      "I AM NOT A PERVERT!!!" Takato yelled.

      "Dude, I'm glad Tsuyosa ain't here to hear that," Hirokazu whispered to Kenta as he ran.

      "Oh dear!" Guardromon tsked.

      "I never knew Takato was so...," Kenta trailed off, blinking.

      "Pi," Marine Angemon finished.

      "Takatomon, what's a pervert?" Guilmon blinked.

      "... Hey!  HEY!  Look!" Impmon pointed, interrupting any violent retort Takato might have had.  "Isn't that... the circus trailer!?"

      "They're back!?" Sera gasped.

      "They must work for Pandamon!" Jenrya guessed as he made a beeline for the trailer.

      "QUIT sayin' the obvious and HURRY before we lose them!" Impmon barked sharply.

      Just as the last transvestite Digimon disappeared in to the trailer, the Tamers neared it themselves.

      "How could they all fit inside?" Hirokazu wondered, out loud.

      "Who cares!?" Jenrya snapped, for once losing his cool.  "Shuichon and Lopmon are inside!"

      "Let's go, Jen!" Terriermon agreed as he and his Tamer neared the door.

      As Jenrya grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open, no one was prepared for what happened.

      A bright flash of prismatic light flowed out, as if it had been trapped inside the trailer.  It engulfed the Tamers and digimon, lifting them upwards and sucking them in to the trailer with a loud swoosh.


	32. Rocky Horror Picture Show (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes: Hey everybody!  As you probably know already, we're late in posting this new chapter.  We're sorry about that, but a crisis came up in my (Yuki) personal life concerning my cat's health and I simply was too worried about getting him treatment to think about posting.  Luckily, the crisis is over now and my cat's going to be better, so I can happily post the next chapter.  ^_^

      As always, Digimon doesn't belong to us (not for lack of trying), but this story and the new characters in it are, so no stealing!

      This chapter is once again divided between the original, uncut version, and the censored yaoi-free version.  In case you miss the (Yaoi-Free) marker, I'm here to give you final warning on such a thing: You are in the censored, yaoi-free version of the story.  If you didn't want to be because you wanted to read the story in its entirty and you don't mind boy/boy love, then you'd best go back and look for the chapter without the (Yaoi-Free) mark.  In case you really did mean to come to this version, then I'll just stop talking now and let you start reading.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 23: Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa walked quietly down the street by Takato, holding his backpack tightly in his arms.  Before the two got very far, he had the forethought to grab his backpack, change in to his shoes, and remove his safety equipment so he could walk.

      "... So... where do you want to go?" Takato asked as he looked at Tsuyosa.

      "I, uh...," Tsuyosa blinked, then looked at the ground.  "I don't... know.  I don't go places very much."

      "Oh," Takato nodded slowly then pondered.  "Hmm..."  He blinked and glanced up as he noticed that they were passing in front of the movie theater.  "... How about seeing a movie?"

      "Oh?" Tsuyosa looked up and blinked, then nodded.  "Okay..."

      Takato walked over to the movie theater with Tsuyosa and glanced over the titles of what was currently playing.  "... Hey, the newest Digimon movie's out," Takato pointed.

      "Do you want to see it?" Tsuyosa asked as he pulled out his wallet.

      "Yeah, but you don't have to pay," Takato blushed lightly, idly feeling like he was taking advantage of Tsuyosa's generosity and wealth.

      "No, it's okay," Tsuyosa smiled slightly as he approached the counter.  "I don't mind..."

      "Well... okay," Takato fidgeted as he smiled back at Tsuyosa shyly.

      Tsuyosa paid for the tickets, as well as popcorn and soda despite any protest Takato tried to offer.

      "I don't mind, really," Tsuyosa muttered shyly as he walked down the isle to find a seat.

      "Well...  I just don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of you, Tsuyosa," Takato mumbled as he walked alongside the other boy.

      "You're not...," Tsuyosa looked at Takato, then stared at the floor.  "... It's the least I can do after what I put you through."

      Takato blinked then shook his head.  "... Tell you what...," he began.  "You stop feeling bad about what happened, and I'll stop feeling bad about you paying, okay?"

      "... Alright..."

      Takato smiled at Tsuyosa as they made their way to a pair of seats near the back of the theater.

      Tsuyosa smiled back weakly and sat down in one of them, looking very shy and uncertain.

      Takato sat down next to Tsuyosa.

      The lights started to dim as the previews started rolling on the theater screen.

      Tsuyosa blinked as it grew dark, then slumped slightly in his chair and tried to relax.  He had never been to a theatre before, though he'd never admit it to Takato.  He hadn't done much of anything that most children did.  He wasn't sure how to act or what to say, so he simply did neither and sat as still as he possibly could.

      Most of the people sitting up at the very front or middle, leaving the back row to Takato and Tsuyosa.  Takato noticed this fact as he glanced around the darkened theater.

      Silently the two sat together as they watched the movie.

**_*~*_**

      "Tent repair patches?"

      "Check!"

      "Spare ribbons?"

      "Check!"

      "Spare crystals?"

      "Check!"

      "Tent poles?"

      "Check, check, check!"

      "Millions of boxes of cotton swabs for Black Tailmon's ears?"

      "... Nyar.  Opossomon's BRAIN?"

      "If it's lost, it must've fallen in Black Tailmon's ear."

      "Okay, you two," Pandamon grinned slightly as he tapped a pencil against his checklist.  "Are we going to check out our supplies or are you going to bicker?"

      "Bicker."

      "Bicker."

      "..." Pandamon sighed as he walked further in to the supply tent, passing by boxes and crates of everything from the practical supplies, such as spare parts, to the impractical, such as rubber chickens and a giant chocolate moose.

      "I think we upset the boss, nyar."

      "You think?"

      "... Hey, you didn't count.  Finally stopped, eh?"

      "I got bored after he reached 10,000."

      "Finally."

      "I'll have to do something else to entertain me."

      "Nyar?"

      "... One."

      "..."

      Pandamon ignored the two, scuffling past the boxes and peering in to them as he checked off items they had and circled those they did not.  He paused when he noticed something not on his checklist, then grinned.  "Oh yeah... we never did figure out what this was, did we?" he muttered as he picked up a large, bizarre looking gun.

      "Nyar, I still say we should get rid of it.  Anything that falls from the sky can't be trusted.  It's probably dangerous."

      "It's a gun, of course it's dangerous!" Pandamon chuckled quietly, then put the gun back down.

      "Two!"

      "STOP IT!"

      "Hey...," Pandamon blinked suddenly.  "There's two here!  Did it reproduce?  We only had one before!"

      "Nope, I found another one just like it!"

      "Really?" Pandamon blinked.  "Where?"

      "If you say in my ear, I'll hurt you.  Nyar."

      "In the Real World.  ...  Three!"

      "Huh?  Weird," Pandamon shrugged.  "Oh well... it has to come from somewhere, right?"

      "Right!"

      "..."

      "... Think they fell out of Black Tailmon's giant ears?"

      "... Okay, time to kill you."

**_*~*_**

      People flooded out of the theatre, talking excitedly to themselves or to each other as they headed out in to the streets and destinations unknown.  Behind the mob of humans were Tsuyosa and Takato.  They slowly walked after the others, leaving the theatre at their own casual pace.

      "... Takato... I...," Tsuyosa stared at the sidewalk.  "... Thank you... I had a wonderful time..."

      "Me too...," Takato glanced at Tsuyosa before he turned his gaze ahead.  "... Thanks for treating me."

      "S-sure," Tsuyosa replied.  "It's the least I could do..."  He paused.  "I-"

      "Oh DEAR!  Do I really have to DESTROY things?"

      "What if I break a nail!?"

      "I just KNOW I'm going to get stains on my new corset!"

      "Quit complaining, ladies.  The master says to destroy, and you're going to destroy even if I have to throw you at the buildings myself."

      Takato blinked and looked up just in time to hear the screaming start and see people fleeing in all directions from a group of digimon that had appeared in the middle of the street.

      Oddly enough, said digimon were wearing women's lingerie.

      "H-huh?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened as he looked around.

      "-!  It's them!" Takato pointed at the group of digimon.  "There's the digimon that stole from my family's bakery!"

      "... Stole?" Tsuyosa blinked, then paled.  "... W-why are they wearing...?"

      "... I have no idea...  But I do know two of them stole from my family's bakery the other night," Takato hastily explained, realizing he never informed Tsuyosa about the robbery.

      "... But... but t-that's a little indecent...," Tsuyosa blushed slightly.

      "No kidding," Takato blushed as well.

      As the two boys were talking, the cross-dressing digimon started attempting to destroy the nearby buildings and objects at random.  The digimon didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it, however, as they were trying not to ruin their undergarments.  The only one among them that didn't seem to be doing any work was a Lady Devimon, who was, oddly enough, carrying a clipboard and taking notes.

      "Eee!" an Ogremon whimpered as he swatted at the building, his wrist limp.

      "Oh no!  I chipped my nail polish!" a War Monzaemon screeched as it examined its claws, horrified.

      Lady Devimon sighed heavily as she took notes.  "We finally have a choice assignment, and my underlings are all a bunch of pansies," she grumbled to herself with agitation.

      "... ..." Tsuyosa stared, blankly.  "... Should... we be frightened?"

      Takato sweat-dropped as he stared at the digimon ineffectively trying to destroy the city.  "Uh...  I honestly don't know," he blinked slowly.

      Other humans were certainly frightened, despite the display, as they had all long since fled from the scene in terror.

      "OH!  OH!  OH!" a young Devimon squeaked as he tried to stomp on a can with his high heels, then gasped when it crunched underfoot.  "... EEEEEE!"

      "... ..."  Tsuyosa and Takato face-faulted.

      "Oh dear!  LOOK!" a Numemon squealed, pointing with a gooey pseudopod at Tsuyosa and Takato.  "They're not running!"

      Lady Devimon glanced over at the two.  "Why am I not surprised?" she muttered to herself.  She spoke louder as she pointed at the two boys with her pen, glaring at the other digimon.  "Don't just stand there!  GET THEM!"

      The digimon paused, then turned to stare at her.

      "Get them with what?" one asked.

      "Or do you mean get them something like a cream puff?" asked another.

      "I like cream puffs!"

      "Me too!"

      "..." Lady Devimon twitched.  "I MEAN KILL THEM YOU IDIOTS!!!"

      "... Uh oh!" Tsuyosa paled.

      "Eeeeeee!" Ogremon 'growled' as he waddled towards the two, obviously intent on slapping them with his weak wrists.

      "...  USE YOUR ATTACKS YOU MORON!" Lady Devimon screeched.

      "... Maybe we should start running before they do," Takato said quickly as he grabbed Tsuyosa's hand and started running.  While the entire display was funny in a pathetic sort of way, Takato didn't want to wait to see what Lady Devimon would do to them should she decide to attack herself.

      Tsuyosa glanced back over his shoulder as he ran, gasping for air.  The Ogremon paused, then cursed violently and waddled after them.

      Lady Devimon glared at the rest of the cross-dressing digimon.  "... Well?  What're you all standing around for!?" she demanded.  "START USING YOUR ATTACKS AND DESTROY EVERYTHING!"

      "But... but... I've... I've forgotten how to!"

      "Oh dear, I spent so much energy learning to simply walk in these heels... I don't remember what my attack is!"

      "... ..." Lady Devimon twitched violently.

      "... You'd better relearn them or I'll slaughter the lot of you, absorb all your data, and do it for you," Lady Devimon hissed poisonously as her red eyes flared.

      "EEEEEEEEEEE!" came the collective squeal as the Digimon then hurried to try and remember their attacks.

**_*~*_**

      "... Now look.  I won't ask you again.  WHERE... IS... TSU?"

      ChibiBa glared darkly up at Hirokazu, who looked at him with an innocent expression.

      "I was so sure he and Takato went to the riverside!" Hirokazu muttered, 'absently'.

      ChibiBa twitched.

      "I CHECKED," ChibiBa seethed.

      "And Tokyo Tower?" Hirokazu tilted his head.

      "CHECKED," ChibiBa grit his teeth.

      "Hmm...  I think Takato might have mentioned going to the Nerima shopping district," Kenta added 'helpfully'.

      "Are you SURE?" ChibiBa glowered.  "I'd hate to find out you're sending me on a wild goose chase!"

      Kenta sweated slightly and tried not to look nervous as he shrugged.  "Pipi," Marine Angemon commented.

      "Hirokazu, are you sure it's wise to keep deceiving ChibiBa like this?" Guardromon whispered to his partner worriedly.  "He might try to hurt us."

      ChibiBa glanced back and forth between Hirokazu and Kenta, his expression bordering on 'psycho'.

      Impmon chuckled quietly as Shuichon dragged him around slowly, then glanced up at Sera.  "It's like playing Cat and Mouse with a saber-tooth tiger," he observed, winking.

      "I think you're right," Sera giggled.

      "I hope ChibiBa doesn't do anything too terrible too them," Jenrya commented as he kept glancing between them, Shuichon, and his partner, the latter of whom was still laughing at Impmon.

      "Naw, we're fine," Hirokazu replied, winking.  "I mean... he wouldn't want to break his PROMISE, would he?" Hirokazu added, a little louder.

      ChibiBa's cheek twitched but he said nothing.

      "Oooh!  Princess Pretty Pants is gliding along a cloud all pretty as she dances the night away with the Pretty Pants Prince!" Shuichon giggled cutely as she tugged Impmon along.

      Nearby Lopmon had decided to take a nap beneath the shade of a large oak tree.  While Lopmon dearly loved Shuichon, having a little girl for a partner tended to wear the poor Rookie out.

      "ChibiBa can't break his promise.  It'd make people sad," Guilmon agreed, and then blinked.  "What did ChibiBa promise?"

      "Not to hurt anyone," Hirokazu beamed down at ChibiBa.  "Ever."

      "... ..."

      "... I wouldn't push it, Hirokazu," Jenrya sweat-dropped.

      "EEEEEEEEEEEYAAH!"

      "Tsu!?" ChibiBa whirled, his entire demeanor changed.

      "HEEEEEEEEELP!"

      "Takato!?" Jenrya gasped as he instantly recognized the second voice.

      "What the-!?" Impmon looked up, startled.

      "Huh?" Sera blinked.

      Takato and Tsuyosa tore across the park, the stronger boy dragging the other as they gasped.  Behind them, a towering Ogremon in lingerie waddled after them with death in his mascara-covered eye.

      "... ... ..."

      "CHIBIBAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tsuyosa squealed, clinging to Takato's hand.

      "GUUUUUUIIIIIILMOOOOOON!" Takato cried as they darted towards the other Tamers and digimon.

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon cried, then growled as he crouched, his eyes instantly shrinking to small slits.

      However, Tsuyosa's call seemed to have a different effect on ChibiBa.

      Without a word, he took off like a shot directly at the Ogremon.  His eyes glowed a brilliant red as his lips curled up in to a shark like glower, much like a steel trap.  He looked ready to kill someone, which just so happened to be Ogremon.

      The Ogremon paused as the tiny Mega darted towards him, his eyes widening as he recognized a pissed off Mega when he saw one.

      With a terrified squeal, the Ogremon whirled and tried to run away just as the Mega lunged.

      "I AM GOING TO KILL YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!" ChibiBa roared.

      "AAAAAAAH!" Ogremon squealed, scrambling away.  "HELP!  HEEEEEEELP!"

      With a snarl and a powerful kick, ChibiBa sent the Ogremon flying through the air and in to the trees.  A sickening crash issued, followed by a deathly silence as ChibiBa landed on the ground with a grunt and waited for any sign of life.

      Takato and Tsuyosa finally came to a halt, gasping and panting for air.  Guilmon decided that ChibiBa had things under control with the digimon and instead darted over to his Tamer.  "Takato, you okay?" he asked with concern as his eyes became normal again.

      "... Dude," Hirokazu stared.  "What the hell happened?"

      "I... I'm fine... Guilmon," Takato gasped.  "There's... a bunch... of digimon... in women's... underwear... tearing up the town...!"

      A dark aura of negative energy filled the park, creating a thick tension as ChibiBa slowly quivered.  Everyone paused to stare at ChibiBa as he literally radiated hatred.

      "... U-um...," Kenta's glasses fogged up.

      "Pipi!" Marine Angemon yelped.

      "..." Impmon's ears drooped.  "... This is generally where I would run."

      "Uh... ChibiBa... you can calm down now...," Sera said cautiously, wary of the diminutive Mega's anger.  "Tsuyosa's fine and the digimon's gone..."

      "B-brother, is he going to explode?" Shuichon gasped.

      "... I hope not, Shuichon," Jenrya muttered as he moved between Shuichon and the angry ChibiBa.

      "OH DEAR!  OH DEAR!" Guardromon squeaked, ducking behind Hirokazu.

      "H-hey... calm down!" Hirokazu whimpered, fearfully.

      "... What's going on?" Lopmon blinked as she became fully awake.  The screams had served to wake her in time to see the dark aura.

      Terriermon blinked as well, finally having stopped laughing.  "Uh, is ChibiBa going to go ballistic?" he asked, sweat-dropping.

      "C-ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared.

      "... Chi... ChibiBa?" Takato tensed.

      Guilmon crouched as he backed up a few steps, his ear-wings drooping under the force of ChibiBa's hatred.

      ChibiBa took a few choked gasps, shaking violently with anger before he paused.

      ".... TSUUUUUUUU!" ChibiBa squealed like a happy child in a candy store as he lunged at Tsuyosa and clung to him, desperately.

      "C-ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa stared as ChibiBa snuggled him, adorably.

      "Talk about a mood swing!" Terriermon blinked.

      "Thank goodness that's over," Jenrya sighed in relief.

      "Whew," Hirokazu relaxed with a sigh against Guardromon.

      "Oh my," Guardromon sighed as well.  "Such a scary digimon!"

      "What was THAT about?" Impmon grunted.

      "He might've thought that cross-dressing Ogremon wanted to do more than attack Tsuyosa," Sera said quietly to Impmon as she kneeled next to her partner, trying to speak quietly enough that Shuichon wouldn't hear her.

      Lopmon walked over to the others.  "What happened here?" she asked.

      "A wicked witch chased the brave Knight Takato and the princess!  The other brave knight must've been put under an evil spell, but when the evil witch was destroyed, it went away and he's gone to be with his princess!" Shuichon nodded sagely.

      "... Right," Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "That's nice, Shuichon," Lopmon said, at a loss for what else to say.

      Suddenly, a large green hand lunged out of the forest brush and grabbed Shuichon easily.

      "ACK!!!" Impmon squeaked as Shuichon was yanked away from him.

      "SHUICHON!" Lopmon cried as she instantly sprang into action.  However, the other hand snapped out and grabbed Lopmon as well.

      Ogremon emerged from the brush, smirking.  "Well then!" he grinned.  "... Bai!"  Without another word, Ogremon took off waddling as fast as his thunder thighs could take him.

      "SHUICHON!" Jenrya cried as he tore off after Ogremon.

      "SHUICHON!  LOPMON!" Terriermon called as he quickly darted after his Tamer.

      "OH DEAR!  OH DEAR!" Guardromon flailed.

      "I thought you killed him!" Hirokazu hissed as he leapt to his feet.

      "Tsuuuu!" ChibiBa purred, ignoring Hirokazu.

      "Oh no!" Sera quickly scrambled to her feet.

      "... We've... got to help...," Tsuyosa gasped, still as winded as when he was running.

      "You're too tired, Tsuyosa," Takato said, having recovered already.  "We'll save Shuichon!"  He looked at Guilmon.  "Come on, Guilmon!"

      "Right, Takato!" Guilmon said as the two of them bolted after the Ogremon.

      "No, I-," Tsuyosa broke off with a pained cough.

      "STAY," ChibiBa said, sternly.

      "..." Tsuyosa looked up as the others darted after the Ogremon.  "... I'm useless..."

      "..." ChibiBa nuzzled Tsuyosa.

      "HELP!  HELP!" Ogremon cried as he ran, holding Shuichon and Lopmon.  "My Lady, HELP!"  He covered quite a lot of ground due to his long stride and soon found himself nearing the other transvestite digimon, regardless of his pursuers.

      Lady Devimon glanced at the Ogremon.  "What is it?" she asked tartly.  "Did you get a run in your stocking?"

      "No, actually, I was attacked by a pissed off Mega," Ogremon replied.  "But I have hostages!" he added, holding up Shuichon and Lopmon.

      "A pissed off Mega?" Lady Devimon repeated blandly.  "That can only mean the Tamers."  She then glanced at Shuichon and Lopmon.  "Hmm...  I guess the master will want to play with those two."  She glanced around at the rest of the cross-dressing digimon who had actually started doing some damage.  "Alright everyone, pack it up!  We're heading back!"

      "EEEE!" came the collective shriek as the digimon whirled and bolted.

      "Eee!" Ogremon agreed as he waddled, holding the two hostages as he ran after the others.

      Lopmon grunted as she struggled to get free from Ogremon's grasp.  "Let us go!" she cried.  "We haven't done anything to you!"

      "Oh, well, I can't!" Ogremon replied.  "If I do, I'd get in big trouble!"

      "At least let Shuichon go!" Lopmon pleaded.  "She's just a child!"

      "No, I'm afraid not," Ogremon replied, then blinked and looked at Shuichon.  "Besides, My Lady would love to meet you!"

      "Is she a princess?" Shuichon blinked innocently, obviously not fully aware of the danger she and Lopmon were in.

      "No, a queen!" Ogremon replied.

      "Yay!" Shuichon cheered.

      Lopmon sweat-dropped, but decided not to say anything since it would only make things worse if she told Shuichon just how much trouble they were in.

      "STOP!" Jenrya screamed as he rounded the corner.  "STOP!"

      "GIVE BACK SHUICHON AND LOPMON!" Terriermon cried from Jenrya's shoulder, where he had hopped onto while they were running.

      "H-hey!" Impmon cried, carrying his skates instead of bothering with trying to use them.  "HEEEY!"

      "How can they be so fast in high heels?" Sera blinked as she skated alongside Impmon.

      "Takato!" Guilmon hissed.  "There's so many!"

      "Yeah," Takato said as his eyes narrowed slightly.  "We're probably gonna have to fight them all to get the girls back!"

      "Eee!  It's the peeping tom!" a Numemon squeaked suddenly.

      "WHAT?!  Really!?  It's the same child!?" Ogremon gasped, shocked.

      "I AM NOT A PEEPING TOM!" Takato cried indignantly.

      "RUN!  HE'LL LOOK AT YOU IN _NAUGHTY_ WAYS!" the Numemon shrieked.

      The digimon screamed fearfully and seemed to run twice as fast as a result.

      "... Uh, Takato?" Impmon glanced at the goggle boy.  "Is there... something you wanna confess?"

      "... I don't think want to know what that was all about," Sera commented, sweat-dropping.

      "... THEY'RE LYING!  I NEVER PEEPED AT ANYONE!" Takato protested hotly.

      "Never mind that!" Jenrya cut in.  "We have to concentrate on saving Shuichon and Lopmon!"

      "Yeah!  We can talk about Takato's perverted tastes later!" Terriermon quipped.

      "I AM NOT A PERVERT!!!" Takato yelled.

      "Oh dear!" Guardromon tsked.

      "I never knew Takato was so...," Kenta trailed off, blinking.

      "Pi," Marine Angemon finished.

      "Takatomon, what's a pervert?" Guilmon blinked.

      "... Hey!  HEY!  Look!" Impmon pointed, interrupting any violent retort Takato might have had.  "Isn't that... the circus trailer!?"

      "They're back!?" Sera gasped.

      "They must work for Pandamon!" Jenrya guessed as he made a beeline for the trailer.

      "QUIT sayin' the obvious and HURRY before we lose them!" Impmon barked sharply.

      Just as the last transvestite Digimon disappeared in to the trailer, the Tamers neared it themselves.

      "How could they all fit inside?" Hirokazu wondered, out loud.

      "Who cares!?" Jenrya snapped, for once losing his cool.  "Shuichon and Lopmon are inside!"

      "Let's go, Jen!" Terriermon agreed as he and his Tamer neared the door.

      As Jenrya grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open, no one was prepared for what happened.

      A bright flash of prismatic light flowed out, as if it had been trapped inside the trailer.  It engulfed the Tamers and digimon, lifting them upwards and sucking them in to the trailer with a loud swoosh.


	33. Painful Revelations

Authors' Notes:  Hey everybody!  Sorry we're late again with the chapter, but, well, I (Yuki) did warn on my page that my health does tend to delay me.  ^^;  Anyway, as always, we don't own Digimon... but we do own our fan characters and this story!  Can't get any clearer than that.

      Better get some tissues handy because this chapter's a real tear jerker. ;_;

      This is the full version, so we won't be censoring anything!  If you don't want to see any yaoi, this is the wrong place!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 24: Painful Revelations_**

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**_*~*_**

      "Nyaaaaaaaaaar!"

      "157!"

      "Be careful!" Pandamon barked as he held a long rope tightly, which he was using to hold the main tent support up.  "And secure it, already!"

      "Yeah, yeah!" Black Tailmon called back as she balanced on top of the pole, securing it to the other four poles with rope, as the other digimon scampered about to cement the main pole itself.

      "Right, boss," Opossomon said cheerfully as he floated beside Black Tailmon and helped her secure the rope.

      Like a trapeze artist, Black Tailmon scampered along the rope easily to and fro each of the poles and attached more supports to them.

      "Wonderful! Good job!" Pandamon beamed, happily.

      "Thanks, boss!" Opossomon chirped as he bowed in mid-air.

      "Nyar, of course!" Black Tailmon beamed.

      "... 158!" Opossomon smirked.

      Suddenly, a bright prismatic flash exploded from the trailer in the far back, blinding all who were looking in that direction.

      "EEP!" Black Tailmon squeaked, covering her eyes as she crouched on the pole.

      "GAH!" Opossomon squealed as he covered his eyes with one paw.  Oddly enough all of his balloons scrunched their painted eyes shut as if they could see the light too.

      "Eh?" Pandamon knew better than to glance back just yet and simply waited for the light to die down.

      Slowly, the light simmered down to sunspots before it ceased entirely.  Pandamon then glanced over his shoulder, curiously.

      "Stragglers?" Pandamon grunted.  "We should charge a bloody toll."  However, he instantly tensed and stared when he saw who it was.

      Lying in a heap outside of the trailer were the Tamers and their digimon.

      "Well...  That was fun," Terriermon moaned from where he was pinned beneath Jenrya.

      "N-nyar?" Black Tailmon stared as Hirokazu moaned, fumbling to his feet as Guardromon twitched from his position on the ground.

      "Ow... how're you, Marine Angemon?" Kenta moaned.

      "Piiiiiiiiii...," Marine Angemon boggled.

      "159!" Opossomon chirped before he turned to look at the new arrivals.

      "Takato, you okay?" Guilmon grunted as he scrambled to his feet.

      "Yeah, I'm fine, Guilmon," Takato groaned as he pulled himself to his knees.

      Pandamon blinked once, twice, and then pointed dynamically at the goggle boy.

      "_YOUUUUUUUUUU!_" he cried.

      "Pandamon!" Takato gasped.

      "Pandamon!  Give back Shuichon and Lopmon right now!" Jenrya growled as he got off of Terriermon and stood up.

      "Ow... Sera?" Impmon moaned.  "... Get off my back, please?"

      "Uhn...  Oh, sorry, Impmon!" Sera yelped as she quickly got off Impmon.

      "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CIRCUS!?" Pandamon screamed back.  "I DIDN'T INVITE YOU!"

      All of a sudden it seemed as if night had come early as the entire circus had started to become dark.

      Pandamon faltered and glanced upwards, totally confused.

      "N-nyar?" Black Tailmon stared, shocked.

      Opossomon was the source as he radiated hatred so strong that it visibly manifested itself in a black aura.  His balloons seemed to scowl with almost as much rage as he was.  He growled as his eyes practically glowed as he bore a terrible glare at Impmon.

      Impmon blinked and glanced upwards, locking eyes with Opossomon.

      "_DAMN YOU!!!  YOU'RE CUTE AGAIN!!!_" Opossomon bellowed, enraged beyond all reason.

      "... Um.  Sorry?" Impmon blinked.

      Sheepmon quivered from under the pole, staring at Opossomon with fear.

      Unfortunately, that was when Sheepmon twitched.

      "... NYAR!  DUCK AND COVER!" Black Tailmon shrieked, diving out of the way.

      Pandamon blinked, then turned to stare just as Sheepmon exploded with a bleat.

      The Tamers and digimon cried out and tried to protect themselves from the blast as it hit them.  Unfortunately, they could not withstand the force of the sheep-plosion as they flew backwards, back in to the trailer.  With a confused and dazed cry, the Tamers and digimon fell down on the ground once more as they found themselves rocketed back in to the Real World without so much as a chance to do anything.

      "Augh... what the hell?" Impmon moaned, once again the landing pad for Sera.

      "We're back in the Real World?  Already?" Hirokazu grunted as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.  He paused, then stared as the trailer door swung absently on its hinges before collapsing to the ground.  "... Well, there goes that way."

      "There it goes!" Guardromon agreed, dazed.

      "Unn...," Sera moaned and was thankful she had padding on.  She yelped and quickly rolled off of Impmon again once she noticed where she had landed.  "Are you okay, Impmon?"

      "Wonderful," Impmon groaned.

      "Ugh...," Takato groaned, not noticing that he had landed on top of something large, black, and white.

      "I don't want to do that again," Kenta moaned, adjusting his glasses.

      "Piiiiiiiiiii...," Marine Angemon boggled, again.

      "Takato, you okay?" Guilmon whimpered, shakily.

      "I'm fine, Guilmon," Takato blinked as he rubbed his head.  "You?"

      Guilmon shook his head to clear it and then blinked as he glanced over at his Tamer, about to answer him.  Guilmon's eyes widened then narrowed into slits as he quickly scrambled to his feet and growled.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked then he suddenly noticed what Guilmon had; Pandamon had been sent through the portal with them, and Takato was currently lying on top of the Ultimate.  "Pandamon!"  With a yelp Takato scrambled away from Pandamon quickly.

      However, Pandamon simply twitched before he let out a pained "Itaaai..."

      "... Looks like the explosion stunned him," Jenrya grunted as he climbed to his feet.

      "That's it!" Pandamon raised his paw, groggily.  "Sheepmon!  No more Mexican food for YOOOOOOUUU-uuugh..."

      With that, Pandamon's eyes rolled in to the back of his head and he collapsed in a heap.

**_*~*_**

      "Uuurgghh..."

      "Hey!  He's waking up!"

      "Careful, he might still be dangerous."

      "How?  He's tied up from head to toe!"

      Pandamon flinched slightly as intense pain surged through his head, making his eyes water.  Despite his great desire to simply go back to sleep, Pandamon forced himself to lift his head and open his eyes.

      At first, he saw nothing but spots.  However, then he blinked repeatedly and shook his head.  He opened his eyes once more, then paled and stared.  He was in a large office-like room and, to his shock, was not alone.  He sat in a chair, tied from head to toe with metal bungee cords and face to face with a huge group of humans and digimon.

      Unfortunately, he recognized quite a few of them.

      Sitting on the couch just opposite him was Ruki, with an old woman and a middle-aged woman who was no doubt her grandmother and mother.  Renamon reclined against the wall, just out of sight as usual.   

      Jenrya leaned against the couch, his expression unnaturally stern as Terriermon sat on his shoulder.  Two adults, the woman with purple hair and the man with gray, stood by him that gave Pandamon the impression that they were his parents.  The woman looked near hysterical and on the verge of tears.

      Standing nearby was Takato, and of course Guilmon was right at his side.  Next to them were a man and a woman of middle-age; most likely they were his parents as well.

      Impmon, the cute one despite his protests of non-cuteness, sat in Sera's lap in a small armchair by the couch.

      A tall blonde haired man in a business suit stood to the side, snapping a lighter open and shut methodically as two women in similar formal attire stood beside him.

      Pandamon blinked repeatedly, then did the only thing he could think of when faced with such a sight.

      "Bleh," Pandamon grunted, sticking out his tongue.

      "My, isn't he a strange fellow?" the old woman blinked curiously.

      "You don't know the half of it," Ruki muttered.

      The blonde man approached Pandamon, still flicking his lighter open and closed slowly.        "So, I hear you're the one responsible for the kidnappings of hundreds of children recently," he commented.

      Pandamon blinked and looked up at Yamaki.  "... Who're you?" he asked.

      "That's not important, but if you must know, my name is Yamaki," Yamaki answered calmly.  "We'd like to know where you and your group have taken Shuichon Lee and Lopmon, and for what purpose."

      "... Shuichon?" Pandamon blinked repeatedly.  "Lopmon?"

      "The little girl and her digimon whom one of your associates kidnapped," Yamaki explained.

      "... Huh?" Pandamon blinked again, his expression blank.

      "..."  Yamaki snapped his lighter shut a little bit more loudly than normal.  "Your associate, the Ogremon in women's negligee, kidnapped a young girl and her digimon who looks similar to Terriermon over there," he said slowly, as if Pandamon were a child, and gestured at the digimon in question.

      "OGREMON?!" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "You think I'd let a DISGUSTING OGREMON in to MY circus!?"

      Pandamon's cheek twitched, as if insulted.

      "Under WHAT definition would you think a NASTY Ogremon is CUTE!?"

      "It was seen going into the trailer you use as a doorway between the Digital World and the Real World," Yamaki pointed out, ignoring most of Pandamon's outburst.

      "So?" Pandamon's cheek twitched, obviously very insulted by the mere accusation.  "Only CUTE digimon are in MY circus!"

      "I don't care about that," Yamaki said tersely.  "I only care about the whereabouts of the child and her partner.  The Ogremon that kidnapped them was seen fleeing through your trailer with them.  Tell us where it took them."

      "...," Pandamon eyed Yamaki.  "... You know, you're not very cute.  That must be why you're so rude."

      One of the girls behind Yamaki covered her mouth and giggled, quietly.

      "..."  Yamaki snapped his lighter open and closed loudly.  "Just answer the question."

      "... Hm," Pandamon wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out again, cutely.  "Why should I?"

      "You're not in any position to refuse," Yamaki warned.

      "I'm not?" Pandamon blinked, wiggling his ears.

      "In case you haven't noticed, you're tied up and surrounded by numerous digimon; all of who can evolve into their Mega levels."

      "... Hm?  So you're in to torture?" Pandamon tilted his head, blinking adorably.

      "..."  Yamaki flicked his lighter again as his expression hardened.  "... I am not above using drastic measures on someone in league with a kidnapper."

      "... So you're sadistic as well as uncute?" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "Are you sure it's not because you're jealous?"

      "..."  Click.

      "I mean, I am so very adorable!" Pandamon giggled.  "I suppose it'd stand to reason you'd be so very jealous of me!"

      "... Quit clowning around and answer my questions!" Yamaki snapped as he continued to flick his lighter.

      "I don't think I have to," Pandamon replied, calmly.  "I mean, it's not like it's any of my business what HE does."

      "Who is HE?" Yamaki asked, forcing down his irritation.

      Pandamon paused, then glanced over at Takato.  His eyes widened, as if he had just seen him for the first time.

      "_YOU!_" Pandamon cried, though he would have pointed if he could.

      Takato looked back at Pandamon, smiling just slightly.  "How does it feel to be on the receiving end?" Takato asked.

      "Oh, just fine," Pandamon said, cheerfully.  "It'd suck if I suddenly had an itch on my nose, though."

      Pandamon paused, then tilted his head to beam at the adults behind Takato.  "Why hello!  You must run that bakery!  Love the bread.  Pastries good too!" he smiled.

      Takato's parents blinked and glanced at each other, not knowing what to think about that comment.

      "Though," Pandamon continued, then fixed them with a 'serious' look as he ignored Yamaki.  "I hear rumors your son's a bit of a peeping tom... maybe you should have a talk with him. You know how young boys are with their hormones."

      "... I AM NOT A PEEPING TOM!" Takato replied hotly.

      "Yeah!" Guilmon whole-heartedly agreed.  "... Takato, what's a peeping tom?" he whispered to Takato.

      "That's not the way I heard it," Pandamon sniffed, wiggling his ears.

      "... I've had enough of your games," Yamaki said calmly, coldly.  "Tell us who HE is!"

      "I'm still offended by the whole Ogremon thing!" Pandamon sniffed, ignoring Yamaki once more.  "Why would I want to kidnap this Shuichon, anyway?!  She already HAS a digimon!"

      "To hold her hostage and demand Tsuyosa in exchange!" Takato glared at Pandamon.

      "... Huh?" Pandamon turned to look at Takato, blankly.  "... ... I could've done that?"

      "... You can't seriously expect us to believe you never thought about that," Ruki snapped.

      "... ..." Pandamon blinked slowly, then let out a silent curse.  "D'OH!"

      "... You really did never think of that?" Jenrya blinked slowly.

      "... No, I didn't!" Pandamon muttered, darkly.  "Do you have to rub it in!?"

      "We're getting off-topic here," Yamaki commented before he crossed his arms.  "Tell us where Shuichon and her digimon are.  And who is HE?"

      "I mean, geez!" Pandamon hissed to himself.  "So what if I dropped the ball on that one!?"

      "Everyone has their days, I guess!" Ruki's grandmother said, unsure of what else to do.

      "Aw," Pandamon smiled.  "You're nice.  Unlike Non-Cute-Lighter-Man."

      "..."  Yamaki flicked his lighter, which made a loud click at the motion.  "Just tell us what you know, digimon."

      "..."  Pandamon suddenly made a face.  "... Erp."

      "Answer the question!" Yamaki snapped, irritated.

      "... I hafta go."  Pandamon twitched, his expression pained.

      "You're not going to escape."

      "NO," Pandamon repeated, then squirmed.  "I have to GO."

      "..."  Yamaki snorted in disgust before he glanced at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Would one of you be so kind as to guard him while he does his 'business'?"

      "..." Impmon hoped no one would pick him.

      "... Why do I need someone to watch me?" Pandamon arched a fuzzy eyebrow.  "I know how to use a restroom."

      "..."  Yamaki eyed Pandamon.  "It's so you won't try and escape."

      "... Huh?" Pandamon blinked slowly, then boggled as his eyes widened.  "WHAT!?  You mean I could have...!?"

      "... If you think Renamon and I will do it, you're nuts," Ruki sniffed disdainfully as she looked away.

      "Terriermon and I can't do it," Jenrya shook his head.  "As Saint Galgomon we wouldn't be able to fit inside the building."

      "DARN IT!" Pandamon muttered darkly.  "I did it again!  I didn't even SEE it!"

      "Well... I guess Guilmon and me can do it...," Takato scratched his cheek.

      "No," Pandamon fixed Takato with a glare.  "Not you.  Not ever."

      "Hey, it's not like I WANT to do it," Takato returned the glare with one of his own.

      "Yes you do," Pandamon's glare darkened.  "You'd love a chance like that.  You could drown me in the potty and say I slipped!"

      "I'd NEVER do something like that!" Takato protested hotly.

      "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Pandamon razzed Takato.  "When you're WEARING pants, at least!"

      "... Looks like there's only one suitable candidate," Renamon sighed.

      Impmon sweated slightly as most of the people in the room turned to look in his direction.

      "Whut?" Impmon looked around, nervously.  "Why's everyone lookin' at me!?"

      "You're the only one here who can do it, Impmon," Jenrya commented.

      "Have fun with toilet duty," Terriermon snickered.

      "... But...," Impmon turned to stare at Pandamon.  "He'll try and HUG me!"

      "That's why you evolve to Beelzebumon," Ruki snorted.  "He can't touch you if you're in your Mega form."

      "... At least you're better than Miss Condescending, Mr. Loud Mouth Bunny Man, or Mr. No Pants Pervy Boy," Pandamon shrugged.

      "I'm NOT a pervert!" Takato snapped.  "And I'm wearing pants!"

      "... FINE," Impmon sighed, then crossed his arms and tromped for the door.  "You people make ME do all the dirty work."

      Pandamon squirmed a bit, then fixed Yamaki with a look.  "... WELL?"

      "If we untie you, you'll escape," Yamaki commented blandly.

      "No, I can't," Pandamon shrugged.

      "Why not?" Jenrya asked.

      "Because you already thought of it!" Pandamon blinked.

      "What does THAT have to do with anything?" Ruki snorted.

      "It'd be copyright infringement," Pandamon sniffed.  "I don't get messed up in THAT."

      Everyone stared at Pandamon, blankly.

      Pandamon paused, then glanced around and scowled.  "HELLO?" he barked.  "Did you FORGET already!?"

      "Just untie the moron," Impmon muttered.

      "MORON?" Pandamon fixed Impmon a look.  "That's not a cute word for such a cute digimon to use!"

      "I... AM... NOT... CUTE!" Impmon snarled.

      "Denial, denial," Pandamon sniffed, then twitched and let out an exasperated grunt.  "AHEM!"

      "Of course you are, Impmon," Terriermon chuckled.  "You're the CUUUTEST digimon EVER!"

      "AHEM!" Pandamon repeated, hotly.

      "... Just hurry up and take him before he makes a mess on the carpet," Yamaki said, exasperated.

      "EXCUSE ME, Mr. Lighter Brain!" Pandamon barked.  "I don't MAKE MESSES!"

      Impmon sighed, exasperated, and tromped over to untie Pandamon.  Pandamon blinked, then dusted himself off.

      "Finally... geez," Pandamon grunted.

      "Don't try anything, or you'll regret it," Yamaki warned.

      Pandamon turned to look at Yamaki, then stuck out his tongue.  "You're STILL jealous of me."

      "..." Yamaki simply clicked his lighter.

      Pandamon hopped down from the chair and trotted to the door, followed by Impmon.  As they stepped outside, the Tamers could hear Pandamon pause, then giggle cutely.

      "You sulk cute, too."

      "I ain't cute, damn it!"

      "Yes you aaaaare."

      "... I'M GOING TO HURT YOU!"

      "... Such an interesting character," Ruki's grandmother blinked.

      Sera watched Impmon and Pandamon go, wondering if she was supposed to go with Impmon or slash a card to evolve him.  However, since the subject was taking a digimon to the bathroom, plus the fact that Impmon didn't seem to need a card to evolve him, she decided just to be quiet instead.

      "Are you sure he's evil?" Ruki's mother blinked.  "He just seems quirky to me!"

      "He kidnapped Tsuyosa along with half the kids in town," Takato pointed out, frowning.  "That counts as evil to me."

      "... But he just doesn't act like I'd expect an evil digimon to act," Ruki's mother muttered.  "He actually seems rather pleasant!"

      "He's so... cheerful," Takato's dad blinked.  "It's scary!"

      "I bet it's just an act," Ruki commented cynically.  "You can catch people off-guard if you pretend to be nice."

      "... He seems so sad inside," Ruki's grandmother frowned.  "You wouldn't normally see it, but it's there... deep in his eyes..."

      At that moment, Pandamon walked into the room, followed by a very irritated Impmon.

      As Pandamon walked over to the chair and stared at it, Impmon turned to glare at the Tamers.  "Don't... EVER... do that to me again," he hissed, pointing at them for emphasis.

      Then, he turned and trotted over to Sera and jumped in to her lap.

      "Awww," Pandamon grunted.  "Not this again."

      "Uh... sorry, Impmon," Takato apologized while Jenrya nodded and Ruki just shrugged.

      Sera hugged Impmon after he landed into her lap.  "I'll get you a cake after this, okay?" she whispered quietly to him.

      "You better," Impmon scowled.

      Pandamon crossed his arms and huffed.  "I don't wanna," he pouted.

      Yamaki looked at Pandamon blandly.  "Sit."  It obviously wasn't a suggestion.

      "No," Pandamon glared at Yamaki.  "Those things are uncomfortable and itchy!"

      "Sit," Yamaki repeated as he clicked his lighter.

      Pandamon twitched slightly then narrowed his eyes and fixed Yamaki with a poisonous glare.

      "Cooperate or you'll be forced to do so," Yamaki warned.

      "... You're a dork," Pandamon muttered as he sat down in the chair, glowering.

      Quickly and efficiently, Yamaki tied Pandamon back up, tugging on the bungee cords once finished to make sure that they were secure.

      "Now that that's taken care of...  Where are Shuichon and her partner?" Yamaki asked.

      "I don't like you," Pandamon scowled.

      "Just answer the question."

      "I told you before.  I don't have to answer that.  What HE does is none of MY business!" Pandamon spat.

      "Who is HE?"

      "My Lady," Pandamon replied.

      "... You just said HE."

      "I know," Pandamon beamed.  "He is My Lady."

      "... So he's a cross-dresser?" Ruki's eyes widened.  "Just like Shuichon's kidnapper!?"

      "Hey, I don't poke my nose in to THOSE things," Pandamon sniffed.  "If the savior of our world wants to wear women's clothes, he can wear them for all I care!"

      "Savior of your world?" Yamaki repeated.  "What do you mean?"

      "..." Pandamon suddenly grew very serious as he stared at the ceiling.  "... ... He's rebuilding us after the Great Destruction."

      "The Great Destruction?" Jenrya repeated as he arched an eyebrow.

      "Do you mean the D-Reaper?" Yamaki asked.

      "..." Pandamon closed his eyes.  "...  ...  No... no, it was after that...  There was a lull... like everything was finally going to be okay!  It lasted for a while... and it seemed like we'd finally have some peace... but something was wrong...  Months past and it grew worse.  A pressure... like a great amount of weight... it kept building and building... until it collapsed."

      There was silence for a few moments before Yamaki turned to look at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Do any of you know anything about this?" he asked.

      "Everything... everything collapsed," Pandamon opened his eyes and he looked near tears, apparently ignoring Yamaki.  "EVERYTHING.  It started with the sky... it seemed to crack... like an eggshell... and this checkerboard SOMETHING appeared in the sky, raining down on us.  But that wasn't the worst of it... because then everything started to SQUEEZE."

      "A checkerboard?" Takato blinked.

      "The layers," Pandamon choked, as if in his own little world.  "The layers slammed in to each other, like they were being squeezed by some great force... crushing thousands...  KILLING thousands...  We thought we were safe after the D-Reaper... but then our own home was KILLING us!"

      "G-Guilmon?" Takato turned to stare at his Digimon.  "Did you see any of this...?  When we came to get you... I didn't see anything...  It just looked like it always did!"

      "No," Guilmon blinked.  "Didn't see anyone, either!"

      "... The Digital World was empty... unnaturally empty," Renamon grunted, quietly.  "We never saw another digimon... not once.  I thought it was due to the D-Reaper's massacre."

      "It was creepy!" Terriermon exclaimed.

      "... It was weird," Impmon agreed, suddenly very quiet.  "It was like we were the only digimon there!"

      "... Did we get out just in time?" Jenrya paled as it dawned on him at how close they had come to experiencing the horrors Pandamon was describing.

      "... We must have...," Ruki muttered.  "... Which means... we were the lucky ones."

      "What could have caused that to happen...?" Janyuu muttered to himself.

      "No one was safe!  We were dying so fast... you couldn't look around without seeing someone shatter!  SHATTER!" Pandamon whimpered, growing steadily more hysterical.

      "That's terrible!" Sera gasped, aghast.

      "But then...," Pandamon seemed to instantly brighten as his eyes shimmered with adoration.  "Then HE came!  He stopped it!  He saved us... he came from the sky and saved us from the Great Destruction!  He's like one divine Holy Beast but SO much more!  He promised to protect us!  He said he'd help us rebuild!  Finally, we'd have peace!"

      "... Speaking of which...  What happened to the Holy Beasts...?" Jenrya muttered.  "Weren't they there at the time...?  Did D-Reaper...?"

      "No one knows," Pandamon shrugged.  "They just disappeared... ditched us."

      "Why would they do that?" Takato blinked, utterly confused.

      "Because they're cowards?" Pandamon beamed, wiggling his ears despite how utterly vicious the comment itself sounded.

      "... Yeah, whatever.  Who is HE and what kind of digimon is he, anyway?!" Ruki demanded, a little irritated.

      "My Lady Reapermon can't be described," Pandamon replied.

      "_Reaper_mon?" Jenrya blinked, instantly wondering if there was some connection between that name and the D-Reaper.

      "... Huh.  I've never heard of that digimon before," Sera muttered.

      "He doesn't even ask much, either!" Pandamon continued, absently.  "All he requests in return are tribunes of women's clothing, chocolate, or tampons!"  Pandamon paused, then stuck his tongue out with a silly grin.  "I don't know what tampons are but they're probably some kind of candy."

      "Women's clothing and tampons?" Ruki blinked slowly before her expression shifted to one of disgust.  "This Reapermon must be the ultimate pervert!"

      "Of course," Pandamon's expression suddenly darkened.  "There is the matter of THAT PUPPET."

      "Puppet?" Takato blinked, thoughts of Juri instantly coming to mind.

      "His second in command!" Pandamon growled, hoarsely.  "He's so vicious...  I don't know WHY my Lady Reapermon keeps that blasted Leomon Puppet around!  He probably just doesn't want to hurt that sadistic creature's feelings!"

      "... Reapermon has a Leomon puppet...," Jenrya said slowly as realization dawned.

      "You don't think...," Takato breathed.

      "... It's got to be the D-Reaper!" Ruki gasped.  "It has to be!"

      "Of course, My Lady Reapermon DOES have his mood swings," Pandamon blinked.  "But that only happens when you don't bring him the right chocolate.  You KNOW how THEY are during That Time Of The Month,"

      "But how?  How can the D-Reaper still exist?" Jenrya asked, ignoring Pandamon.  "I thought Operation Doodlebug deleted it."  Jenrya looked to his father for answers.  "Didn't it?"

      "... It must have somehow survived the compression and escaped to the Digital World...," Janyuu breathed, eyes slightly wider than normal.  "And... and when it did... it must have... caused Operation Doodlebug to... spread..."

      "... Dad... what... did you do...?" Jenrya whispered, very pale.

      "... Compression?" Pandamon repeated, suddenly very aware of Janyuu.  "Compression as in... pressure?"

      Janyuu looked at Pandamon, eyes widening as he came to a horrible realization.

      "... AS IN... SQUEEZE?!" Pandamon shrieked, suddenly very livid, as he tried to lunge at Janyuu.  "AS IN... THE GREAT DESTRUCTION!?!!"

      "Is it possible Operation Doodlebug had more affect on the Digital World than what we first believed?" Yamaki glanced at Janyuu.

      "... It... it shouldn't have caused it...," Janyuu shook his head weakly in denial as he stared off into space, horrified.  "... It wasn't supposed to do that...!  It was only supposed to destroy the D-Reaper and send the digimon back where they belong... not destroy them!"

      "YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE!?" Pandamon shrieked, ignoring Janyuu's muttering.

      "... Could Operation Doodlebug have affected not just the time boundaries of the Digital World and the Real World, but the layers between them as well?" Reika asked, speaking up suddenly.

      "THOUSANDS DEAD!  THOUSANDS!" Pandamon continued to scream, ignoring the conversation as he focused entirely on Janyuu.  "AND IT'S ALL _YOUR_ FAULT!  MURDERER!!!"

      "... It's... possible...," Janyuu said slowly, horrified.  "... We didn't know... what real affect it was going to have on either world...  It was a last-ditch resort...!"

      "Last... DITCH...?!" Pandamon stared at Janyuu.  "You just made a DESTRUCTIVE program and USED it... without even thinking about what it could do!?"

      "We had no choice!" Janyuu protested, his voice thick.  "The fate of the entire world depended on it!"

      "Who's world, though!?" Pandamon snarled. "YOURS?"

      "W-well...," Janyuu fumbled, suddenly very self-conscious.

      "Let me guess," Pandamon purred, his expression suddenly very vicious.  "It never crossed your mind.  It was all YOUR world.  WE don't count... because WE'RE just DATA, right?"

      "..." Janyuu said nothing, staring at Pandamon.

      "That's exactly it, isn't it?" Pandamon hissed, his eyes narrowed.  "So what if we were destroyed, right?  We're just data... doesn't affect YOU at ALL.  You'd sooner kill us all... even your CHILDREN'S digimon... just to save your own, cowardly, selfish, egotistical, insensitive HIDE!"

      "..." Jenrya said nothing, his expression forcibly neutral.  He turned to look at his father, slowly.  "... Well?"

      "Tell me," Pandamon grinned in a shark-like fashion, eyes glittering.  "How long did you THINK about it before you signed our death certificates and dismissed us as a PERMISSABLE SACRIFICE?"

      "W-well...," Janyuu began.

      "Ten minutes?" Pandamon broke in.

      "Y-you see..."

      "FIVE minutes?"

      "Wait, I..."

      "ONE MINUTE?"

      "Just... we..."

      "WAS IT EVEN THIRTY SECONDS!?!" Pandamon shrieked, suddenly livid once more.

      "I... I..."

      "YOU SACRIFICED US!  YOU THREW OUR LIVES AWAY!  ALMOST ALL OF MY FRIENDS DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!!!" Pandamon roared.  "MURDERER!  _MURDERER!!!!_"

      "We didn't know...," Janyuu weakly repeated, apparently in a state of shock as he looked down at his hands, which were shaking violently.

      "MURDERER!" Pandamon repeated, hotly.  "How dare you...  YOU kill us and then have the audacity to try and make our savior out to be a bad person who kidnaps people!  HOW DARE YOU!  You WANTED us to die!  YOU WANTED TO KILL US ALL!"

      "... It... wasn't... supposed... to be... like this...," Janyuu whispered as tears spilled from his eyes.

      "... ...," Jenrya said nothing, simply looking at his father with a neutral, almost cold expression.  It was much like the one he had when his father informed him that he had sacrificed Terriermon, separating them, even if it was for a short while.

      Janyuu's wife placed her hand on her husband's shoulder, offering him her quiet and gentle support even if she had no idea what to think of the entire situation.

      "You killed us...  YOU killed THOUSANDS of INNOCENT digimon...  All of their deaths... are on your head...," Pandamon hissed, suddenly very spent as he went limp in the chair and panted quietly.

      Silence reigned among those gathered aside from Pandamon's heavy breathing, the ramifications of how high the price of victory was, was staggering.  Not even the previously believed cost of the Tamers being separated from their digimon was as horrible.

      "We don't even have Primary Village anymore!" Pandamon choked out, shaking.  "It's destroyed!  They won't be reborn!  No one can be reborn!  They're all dead and they're STAYING dead... and it's all your fault!"

      No one else spoke.  There was nothing that could be said.  Even Pandamon had nothing else to say, simply gasping as he struggled with the hideous truth.

      "..."  Yamaki was the first to break the silence.  "If the D-Reaper hadn't been destroyed by Operation Doodlebug, then BOTH worlds would have been lost," he said calmly.

      "So you decided to just kill us!" Pandamon whispered.  "You decided that your lives were worth more than our own and that we were expendable!"

      "We didn't know!" Janyuu cried as he buried his face in his hands.

      "I lost everyone...," Pandamon clenched the chair, surprisingly strong.  "My friends... my entire village... they all died right in front of me!  Black Tailmon... she had a FAMILY... brother and sisters!  All dead!  She even had a mate!  They were going to start a family!"

      "You... it's your fault...  She won't have her family...  There won't be any tiny little Tailmons running around because of you," Pandamon looked at Janyuu, as if he were suddenly dead inside.  "I'll never see my friends again.  And Opossomon...  Opossomon...  He'll never be the same...  His entire MIND was shattered... because of you!"

      "How could you do this to us?" Pandamon whispered.  "... What did we ever do to you?"

      Ruki shivered repeatedly and leaned back in to the couch, closing her eyes.  Her grandmother slowly slipped an arm around her and held her close, her expression soft.  Her mother took her hand, squeezing it in an assuring manner, a worried expression her face.  Renamon said nothing, though her expression displayed a great sadness.

      Takato felt numb and his legs nearly gave out beneath him, but his dad took a hold of him from behind and supported him.  His mom swept him up in a loving hug, supporting him as well.  Guilmon drooped and snuggled in against his Tamer and his parents.

      Jenrya stared at his father as he wept into his hands, his mother slipping her arm around him.  Janyuu leaned against his wife slightly as he cried.  Jenrya didn't know what to think or feel, his entire body numb.  He wanted to comfort his father, but a small voice strongly reminded him that his father did indeed sacrifice countless digimon lives as expendable.  Among those lives included Terriermon's.

      Jenrya looked at his father, his eyes burning, before he slowly turned away to look elsewhere.

      Impmon shivered uncontrollably.

      Sera looked down at Impmon and held him as close to her as she possibly could.  She didn't know any more about the D-Reaper and all that had been involved with it any more than the average person who had watched the news broadcasts about it, but she knew enough to understand the conversation.

      "All over again," Impmon whispered.  "It's like it's happening all over again...  I tried... and we still messed up..."

      "It'll be okay, Impmon...," Sera whispered softly into her partner's ear.  She didn't know if that was true or not, and the words would most likely have no affect on Impmon, but it was all she could do.

      Yamaki and his assistants stood in silence, gazing at sympathy at the Tamers, their digimon, and their parents.

      "... No one... must ever... know..."

      "..."  Yamaki glanced at Pandamon.  "What?" he asked quietly.

      "NO ONE... must ever know," Pandamon repeated, more firmly.  He slowly looked up, his eyes dark and pained.

      "..." Yamaki locked gazes with Pandamon.

      "We've come too far...  It'd hurt too many...  It'd tear open all of the wounds we've worked so hard to heal," Pandamon muttered, his voice slowly leveling out to a monotone, an empty tone.  "My Circus... when I started it, everyone was in so much pain...  Black Tailmon tried to mutilate herself...  Opossomon couldn't even speak coherently...  But I gave them hope... gave them someplace to be, something to do... and slowly... they started to heal."

      Pandamon lowered his head, staring at the floor for a minute.

      "... If you just smile... if you hide your pain... hide what bothers you... and just smile... smile as brightly as you can... and pretend to be happy...," Pandamon slowly looked up.  His eyes were dark but then a shield visibly seemed to slam down in his eyes, locking away the pain and hurt as if it had never been there.  His eyes brightened, as innocent and cheerful as he had been before the whole situation had come to light.  "... Then everyone around you will be happy!" he said, cheerfully.

      "..." Yamaki merely flicked his lighter quietly.

      "You'd be living a lie!" Ruki hissed.

      "... But we'd be living!" Pandamon replied, happily.  "That's really all that matters, you know!"

      "What about REAL happiness?" Takato asked quietly.

      "They're happy now," Pandamon replied, calmly.  "There's no point in them knowing...  It won't matter or fix anything.  It'll only make things worse.  They're happy now... so they don't need to know."

      "... And you?" Renamon asked, suddenly.  "What about you?  You know."

      "So?" Pandamon smiled, brightly.  "You'd never guess by looking at me!"

      "..." Renamon's eyes narrowed.

      "If I don't let others know it hurts, then they won't hurt too!" Pandamon continued.  "And eventually, if you shove it down far enough inside of you... you won't even notice it anymore.  Except when you're alone!"

      "..." Impmon slumped against Sera.

      "Everything's fine!" Pandamon repeated.  "Everything is fine!"

      "How... how can you say that everything's fine?!" Ruki whispered, hoarsely.

      "Because everything IS fine!" Pandamon smiled, tilting his head and wiggling his ears.  "We're alive, we're happy... we have tons of shows and traveling everywhere we can to all the refugees... and they're always happy after the show...  We're all fine!"

      "... But you'll be forcing your feelings down... hiding them from everyone!" Ruki protested.

      "What good would it do if I let anyone know how I felt?" Pandamon asked.  "Would it change anything?"

      "..." Ruki's jaw clenched.

      "It would allow you to unleash your feelings before they become too much for you to handle," Renamon added, oddly profound.  "Keep them bottled up inside long enough and they will explode violently."

      "It'd only upset people... make them lose faith in humans. Lose faith in everything," Pandamon shrugged.  "They need faith...  They don't need to know this.  They need hope... and if you lose hope, you may as well be dead."

      "... You'd be willing to do that to yourself?" Impmon asked, suddenly choked.

      "Of course," Pandamon beamed brightly.  "I don't need hope or faith.  But everyone else does...  So I pretend I do.  I do it every day when I have to look at My Lady Reapermon.  They need someone to look up to... to have faith in.  Even if it's a bunch of selfish humans or a psychopathic My Lady Reapermon."

      "... What if you just rebuild Primary Village?" Sera asked suddenly.  "That would give everyone hope, because then everyone who died would be reborn."

      "... Primary Village?" Ruki repeated, as if the term were foreign to her.

      "Primary Village... is where all Digimon are born," Renamon explained, quietly.

      "Was," Pandamon amended.

      "... Wait, wait!  REBORN!?" Ruki stood up.  "What are you talking about!?"

      "As long as we had Primary Village... digimon never really died.  They were reborn as eggs," Pandamon explained, calmly.  "Our data would become eggs and we'd fall from the sky to Primary Village... where we'd hatch with the same memories and personalities as before."  Pandamon paused, then shook his head.  "But it was destroyed... rather brutally, too."

      "But it can be rebuilt, right?" Sera asked as she glanced around.  "I mean... it was able to be rebuilt in the anime."

      "Couldn't you do something, dad?" Jenrya whispered.

      "...  ...  I... I don't know...," Janyuu whispered, his voice hoarse.  "... I guess... I could... get the rest of the Wild Bunch... and we could... try something..."

      "Heh, that'd be the LEAST you'd owe us, wouldn't it?" Pandamon snickered, then tilted his head.  "But do we reaaaally want you messing around with your PROGRAMS again?  Given that you tried to KILL US with your last one?  Do you reaaally think you're as good at building a program to REBUILD as you are at building one to DESTROY?" he asked, his voice light and humorous despite the words themselves.

      "..." Janyuu suddenly stood up, his expression stern and determined.  "... No...  No, we're going to do this..."

      Pandamon blinked as Janyuu suddenly lunged at him and grabbed his bound paw, shakily.

      "I promise you... I promise every digimon... whether they know it or not...," Janyuu hissed.  "I'm going to fix this...  I am going to fix everything or die trying!"

      Pandamon's eyes widened as he tried to shrink away from the powerful gaze of Janyuu.  "Um..." Pandamon seemed at a loss.

      "I've got to go...  We've got to start!" Janyuu reared up.  "Yamaki!  Try and contact the rest of the Bunch!  I don't care how you do it!  We're going to need your lab again!"

      "Right," Yamaki nodded, cracking a small smile.  "Time to get to work."  He looked at his assistants.  "Let's get some calls made, ladies."

      "Um...," Pandamon blinked repeatedly, obviously overwhelmed.

      "But what about Shuichon?" Jenrya's mother asked, suddenly.  "What about Shuichon?!"

      "We're going to go get her," Jenrya said, suddenly.  "We're going to go find her and rescue her."

      "But you don't even know where in the Digital world she is or who kidnapped her or why!" Jenrya's mother cried, bordering on hysterics.

      "Momentai," Terriermon smirked in an assuring manner at Jenrya's mother.  "We saved Culumon and we had no idea about anything with him.  We can save Shuichon and Lopmon too!"

      "Don't forget, we have someone who does know what happened to them," Renamon calmly pointed out as she gazed at Pandamon.

      Pandamon blinked and stared back.

      "Alright, bear!" Ruki stood up and approached the bound Ultimate.  "Tell us!"

      "..." Pandamon fixed Ruki with a gaze.  "You're joking."

      "No, we're not," Jenrya said as he approached Pandamon as well.  "You'd better start talking."

      "Why's everyone suddenly getting so close to me?" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "What ever happened to personal space!?"

      "Tell us what you know about what happened to Shuichon and Lopmon, or you're going to have your personal space violated," Takato glared as he joined the other two Tamers next to Pandamon.

      "... You mean you really are in to THAT stuff!?" Pandamon's eyes widened like saucers.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked, not comprehending what Pandamon meant.

      "I don't believe it!" Pandamon squeaked.  "You really ARE a pervert!"

      "I AM NOT A PERVERT!" Takato snapped.

      "But you said you were going to VIOLATE me!" Pandamon wailed.  "I didn't go through hell to get violated by a bunch of kids!"

      "... What're you talking about?!" Takato demanded, angry and confused.  "It was just an expression!"

      "As in, Akkenai violate," Impmon pointed out.

      "Eh?!" Takato looked at Impmon before he turned to stare at Pandamon.  "I didn't mean it THAT way!"

      "How would I know that!?" Pandamon whimpered.  "You did undress those transvestite with your eyes!  I only have a bandanna!  It wouldn't take MUCH!"

      "I DO NOT UNDRESS PEOPLE WITH MY EYES!" Takato protested hotly.

      "Except Tsuyosa," Ruki said, but so very quietly that the adults couldn't hear.

      Takato blushed and glanced at Ruki but said nothing.

      "...  Pandamon's changing the subject so he doesn't have to answer you," Sera pointed out.

      "... He's rather good at it, too.  He knows the right topics," Renamon observed.

      "Just tell us where they are and who took them!" Jenrya demanded, his patience wearing thin.

      "Eeee!" Pandamon blinked repeatedly.  "You're so HOSTILE!"

      "Please..."

      Pandamon's ears pricked and he stared as Jenrya's mother slowly walked up behind the children, looking at him.

      "Please... it's my little girl...," she whispered.  "Please... I just want her safe...  I want her home... please..."

      Pandamon stared as the woman kneeled down to his eye level and looked at him, her eyes shimmering with barely controlled tears.

      "Please... I'm begging you...," she sobbed.  "Please..."

      "Mom...," Jenrya whispered as he watched his mother.

      "..." Pandamon's expression softened as he looked at her, quietly.  "...  ...  They use my trailer to go back and forth between the two worlds... but I don't have any connection to them...  But I do know where they go... and they probably took her to his fortress."

      "Why... why would they take her?" Jenrya's mom snuffled.

      "... You're not going to believe this...," Pandamon said, slowly.  "... But probably so he can have a tea party with her."


	34. Painful Revelations (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes:  Hey everybody!  Sorry we're late again with the chapter, but, well, I (Yuki) did warn on my page that my health does tend to delay me.  ^^;  Anyway, as always, we don't own Digimon... but we do own our fan characters and this story!  Can't get any clearer than that.

      Better get some tissues handy because this chapter's a real tear jerker. ;_;

      This is the yaoi-free version, so you won't find any yaoi here!  If you're looking for the full version, this isn't it. XD;

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 24: Painful Revelations_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Nyaaaaaaaaaar!"

      "157!"

      "Be careful!" Pandamon barked as he held a long rope tightly, which he was using to hold the main tent support up.  "And secure it, already!"

      "Yeah, yeah!" Black Tailmon called back as she balanced on top of the pole, securing it to the other four poles with rope, as the other digimon scampered about to cement the main pole itself.

      "Right, boss," Opossomon said cheerfully as he floated beside Black Tailmon and helped her secure the rope.

      Like a trapeze artist, Black Tailmon scampered along the rope easily to and fro each of the poles and attached more supports to them.

      "Wonderful! Good job!" Pandamon beamed, happily.

      "Thanks, boss!" Opossomon chirped as he bowed in mid-air.

      "Nyar, of course!" Black Tailmon beamed.

      "... 158!" Opossomon smirked.

      Suddenly, a bright prismatic flash exploded from the trailer in the far back, blinding all who were looking in that direction.

      "EEP!" Black Tailmon squeaked, covering her eyes as she crouched on the pole.

      "GAH!" Opossomon squealed as he covered his eyes with one paw.  Oddly enough all of his balloons scrunched their painted eyes shut as if they could see the light too.

      "Eh?" Pandamon knew better than to glance back just yet and simply waited for the light to die down.

      Slowly, the light simmered down to sunspots before it ceased entirely.  Pandamon then glanced over his shoulder, curiously.

      "Stragglers?" Pandamon grunted.  "We should charge a bloody toll."  However, he instantly tensed and stared when he saw who it was.

      Lying in a heap outside of the trailer were the Tamers and their digimon.

      "Well...  That was fun," Terriermon moaned from where he was pinned beneath Jenrya.

      "N-nyar?" Black Tailmon stared as Hirokazu moaned, fumbling to his feet as Guardromon twitched from his position on the ground.

      "Ow... how're you, Marine Angemon?" Kenta moaned.

      "Piiiiiiiiii...," Marine Angemon boggled.

      "159!" Opossomon chirped before he turned to look at the new arrivals.

      "Takato, you okay?" Guilmon grunted as he scrambled to his feet.

      "Yeah, I'm fine, Guilmon," Takato groaned as he pulled himself to his knees.

      Pandamon blinked once, twice, and then pointed dynamically at the goggle boy.

      "_YOUUUUUUUUUU!_" he cried.

      "Pandamon!" Takato gasped.

      "Pandamon!  Give back Shuichon and Lopmon right now!" Jenrya growled as he got off of Terriermon and stood up.

      "Ow... Sera?" Impmon moaned.  "... Get off my back, please?"

      "Uhn...  Oh, sorry, Impmon!" Sera yelped as she quickly got off Impmon.

      "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CIRCUS!?" Pandamon screamed back.  "I DIDN'T INVITE YOU!"

      All of a sudden it seemed as if night had come early as the entire circus had started to become dark.

      Pandamon faltered and glanced upwards, totally confused.

      "N-nyar?" Black Tailmon stared, shocked.

      Opossomon was the source as he radiated hatred so strong that it visibly manifested itself in a black aura.  His balloons seemed to scowl with almost as much rage as he was.  He growled as his eyes practically glowed as he bore a terrible glare at Impmon.

      Impmon blinked and glanced upwards, locking eyes with Opossomon.

      "_DAMN YOU!!!  YOU'RE CUTE AGAIN!!!_" Opossomon bellowed, enraged beyond all reason.

      "... Um.  Sorry?" Impmon blinked.

      Sheepmon quivered from under the pole, staring at Opossomon with fear.

      Unfortunately, that was when Sheepmon twitched.

      "... NYAR!  DUCK AND COVER!" Black Tailmon shrieked, diving out of the way.

      Pandamon blinked, then turned to stare just as Sheepmon exploded with a bleat.

      The Tamers and digimon cried out and tried to protect themselves from the blast as it hit them.  Unfortunately, they could not withstand the force of the sheep-plosion as they flew backwards, back in to the trailer.  With a confused and dazed cry, the Tamers and digimon fell down on the ground once more as they found themselves rocketed back in to the Real World without so much as a chance to do anything.

      "Augh... what the hell?" Impmon moaned, once again the landing pad for Sera.

      "We're back in the Real World?  Already?" Hirokazu grunted as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.  He paused, then stared as the trailer door swung absently on its hinges before collapsing to the ground.  "... Well, there goes that way."

      "There it goes!" Guardromon agreed, dazed.

      "Unn...," Sera moaned and was thankful she had padding on.  She yelped and quickly rolled off of Impmon again once she noticed where she had landed.  "Are you okay, Impmon?"

      "Wonderful," Impmon groaned.

      "Ugh...," Takato groaned, not noticing that he had landed on top of something large, black, and white.

      "I don't want to do that again," Kenta moaned, adjusting his glasses.

      "Piiiiiiiiiii...," Marine Angemon boggled, again.

      "Takato, you okay?" Guilmon whimpered, shakily.

      "I'm fine, Guilmon," Takato blinked as he rubbed his head.  "You?"

      Guilmon shook his head to clear it and then blinked as he glanced over at his Tamer, about to answer him.  Guilmon's eyes widened then narrowed into slits as he quickly scrambled to his feet and growled.

      "Wha?" Takato blinked then he suddenly noticed what Guilmon had; Pandamon had been sent through the portal with them, and Takato was currently lying on top of the Ultimate.  "Pandamon!"  With a yelp Takato scrambled away from Pandamon quickly.

      However, Pandamon simply twitched before he let out a pained "Itaaai..."

      "... Looks like the explosion stunned him," Jenrya grunted as he climbed to his feet.

      "That's it!" Pandamon raised his paw, groggily.  "Sheepmon!  No more Mexican food for YOOOOOOUUU-uuugh..."

      With that, Pandamon's eyes rolled in to the back of his head and he collapsed in a heap.

**_*~*_**

      "Uuurgghh..."

      "Hey!  He's waking up!"

      "Careful, he might still be dangerous."

      "How?  He's tied up from head to toe!"

      Pandamon flinched slightly as intense pain surged through his head, making his eyes water.  Despite his great desire to simply go back to sleep, Pandamon forced himself to lift his head and open his eyes.

      At first, he saw nothing but spots.  However, then he blinked repeatedly and shook his head.  He opened his eyes once more, then paled and stared.  He was in a large office-like room and, to his shock, was not alone.  He sat in a chair, tied from head to toe with metal bungee cords and face to face with a huge group of humans and digimon.

      Unfortunately, he recognized quite a few of them.

      Sitting on the couch just opposite him was Ruki, with an old woman and a middle-aged woman who was no doubt her grandmother and mother.  Renamon reclined against the wall, just out of sight as usual.      

      Jenrya leaned against the couch, his expression unnaturally stern as Terriermon sat on his shoulder.  Two adults, the woman with purple hair and the man with gray, stood by him that gave Pandamon the impression that they were his parents.  The woman looked near hysterical and on the verge of tears.

      Standing nearby was Takato, and of course Guilmon was right at his side.  Next to them were a man and a woman of middle-age; most likely they were his parents as well.

      Impmon, the cute one despite his protests of non-cuteness, sat in Sera's lap in a small armchair by the couch.

      A tall blonde haired man in a business suit stood to the side, snapping a lighter open and shut methodically as two women in similar formal attire stood beside him.

      Pandamon blinked repeatedly, then did the only thing he could think of when faced with such a sight.

      "Bleh," Pandamon grunted, sticking out his tongue.

      "My, isn't he a strange fellow?" the old woman blinked curiously.

      "You don't know the half of it," Ruki muttered.

      The blonde man approached Pandamon, still flicking his lighter open and closed slowly.        "So, I hear you're the one responsible for the kidnappings of hundreds of children recently," he commented.

      Pandamon blinked and looked up at Yamaki.  "... Who're you?" he asked.

      "That's not important, but if you must know, my name is Yamaki," Yamaki answered calmly.  "We'd like to know where you and your group have taken Shuichon Lee and Lopmon, and for what purpose."

      "... Shuichon?" Pandamon blinked repeatedly.  "Lopmon?"

      "The little girl and her digimon whom one of your associates kidnapped," Yamaki explained.

      "... Huh?" Pandamon blinked again, his expression blank.

      "..."  Yamaki snapped his lighter shut a little bit more loudly than normal.  "Your associate, the Ogremon in women's negligee, kidnapped a young girl and her digimon who looks similar to Terriermon over there," he said slowly, as if Pandamon were a child, and gestured at the digimon in question.

      "OGREMON?!" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "You think I'd let a DISGUSTING OGREMON in to MY circus!?"

      Pandamon's cheek twitched, as if insulted.

      "Under WHAT definition would you think a NASTY Ogremon is CUTE!?"

      "It was seen going into the trailer you use as a doorway between the Digital World and the Real World," Yamaki pointed out, ignoring most of Pandamon's outburst.

      "So?" Pandamon's cheek twitched, obviously very insulted by the mere accusation.  "Only CUTE digimon are in MY circus!"

      "I don't care about that," Yamaki said tersely.  "I only care about the whereabouts of the child and her partner.  The Ogremon that kidnapped them was seen fleeing through your trailer with them.  Tell us where it took them."

      "...," Pandamon eyed Yamaki.  "... You know, you're not very cute.  That must be why you're so rude."

      One of the girls behind Yamaki covered her mouth and giggled, quietly.

      "..."  Yamaki snapped his lighter open and closed loudly.  "Just answer the question."

      "... Hm," Pandamon wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out again, cutely.  "Why should I?"

      "You're not in any position to refuse," Yamaki warned.

      "I'm not?" Pandamon blinked, wiggling his ears.

      "In case you haven't noticed, you're tied up and surrounded by numerous digimon; all of who can evolve into their Mega levels."

      "... Hm?  So you're in to torture?" Pandamon tilted his head, blinking adorably.

      "..."  Yamaki flicked his lighter again as his expression hardened.  "... I am not above using drastic measures on someone in league with a kidnapper."

      "... So you're sadistic as well as uncute?" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "Are you sure it's not because you're jealous?"

      "..."  Click.

      "I mean, I am so very adorable!" Pandamon giggled.  "I suppose it'd stand to reason you'd be so very jealous of me!"

      "... Quit clowning around and answer my questions!" Yamaki snapped as he continued to flick his lighter.

      "I don't think I have to," Pandamon replied, calmly.  "I mean, it's not like it's any of my business what HE does."

      "Who is HE?" Yamaki asked, forcing down his irritation.

      Pandamon paused, then glanced over at Takato.  His eyes widened, as if he had just seen him for the first time.

      "_YOU!_" Pandamon cried, though he would have pointed if he could.

      Takato looked back at Pandamon, smiling just slightly.  "How does it feel to be on the receiving end?" Takato asked.

      "Oh, just fine," Pandamon said, cheerfully.  "It'd suck if I suddenly had an itch on my nose, though."

      Pandamon paused, then tilted his head to beam at the adults behind Takato.  "Why hello!  You must run that bakery!  Love the bread.  Pastries good too!" he smiled.

      Takato's parents blinked and glanced at each other, not knowing what to think about that comment.

      "Though," Pandamon continued, then fixed them with a 'serious' look as he ignored Yamaki.  "I hear rumors your son's a bit of a peeping tom... maybe you should have a talk with him. You know how young boys are with their hormones."

      "... I AM NOT A PEEPING TOM!" Takato replied hotly.

      "Yeah!" Guilmon whole-heartedly agreed.  "... Takato, what's a peeping tom?" he whispered to Takato.

      "That's not the way I heard it," Pandamon sniffed, wiggling his ears.

      "... I've had enough of your games," Yamaki said calmly, coldly.  "Tell us who HE is!"

      "I'm still offended by the whole Ogremon thing!" Pandamon sniffed, ignoring Yamaki once more.  "Why would I want to kidnap this Shuichon, anyway?!  She already HAS a digimon!"

      "To hold her hostage and demand Tsuyosa in exchange!" Takato glared at Pandamon.

      "... Huh?" Pandamon turned to look at Takato, blankly.  "... ... I could've done that?"

      "... You can't seriously expect us to believe you never thought about that," Ruki snapped.

      "... ..." Pandamon blinked slowly, then let out a silent curse.  "D'OH!"

      "... You really did never think of that?" Jenrya blinked slowly.

      "... No, I didn't!" Pandamon muttered, darkly.  "Do you have to rub it in!?"

      "We're getting off-topic here," Yamaki commented before he crossed his arms.  "Tell us where Shuichon and her digimon are.  And who is HE?"

      "I mean, geez!" Pandamon hissed to himself.  "So what if I dropped the ball on that one!?"

      "Everyone has their days, I guess!" Ruki's grandmother said, unsure of what else to do.

      "Aw," Pandamon smiled.  "You're nice.  Unlike Non-Cute-Lighter-Man."

      "..."  Yamaki flicked his lighter, which made a loud click at the motion.  "Just tell us what you know, digimon."

      "..."  Pandamon suddenly made a face.  "... Erp."

      "Answer the question!" Yamaki snapped, irritated.

      "... I hafta go."  Pandamon twitched, his expression pained.

      "You're not going to escape."

      "NO," Pandamon repeated, then squirmed.  "I have to GO."

      "..."  Yamaki snorted in disgust before he glanced at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Would one of you be so kind as to guard him while he does his 'business'?"

      "..." Impmon hoped no one would pick him.

      "... Why do I need someone to watch me?" Pandamon arched a fuzzy eyebrow.  "I know how to use a restroom."

      "..."  Yamaki eyed Pandamon.  "It's so you won't try and escape."

      "... Huh?" Pandamon blinked slowly, then boggled as his eyes widened.  "WHAT!?  You mean I could have...!?"

      "... If you think Renamon and I will do it, you're nuts," Ruki sniffed disdainfully as she looked away.

      "Terriermon and I can't do it," Jenrya shook his head.  "As Saint Galgomon we wouldn't be able to fit inside the building."

      "DARN IT!" Pandamon muttered darkly.  "I did it again!  I didn't even SEE it!"

      "Well... I guess Guilmon and me can do it...," Takato scratched his cheek.

      "No," Pandamon fixed Takato with a glare.  "Not you.  Not ever."

      "Hey, it's not like I WANT to do it," Takato returned the glare with one of his own.

      "Yes you do," Pandamon's glare darkened.  "You'd love a chance like that.  You could drown me in the potty and say I slipped!"

      "I'd NEVER do something like that!" Takato protested hotly.

      "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Pandamon razzed Takato.  "When you're WEARING pants, at least!"

      "... Looks like there's only one suitable candidate," Renamon sighed.

      Impmon sweated slightly as most of the people in the room turned to look in his direction.

      "Whut?" Impmon looked around, nervously.  "Why's everyone lookin' at me!?"

      "You're the only one here who can do it, Impmon," Jenrya commented.

      "Have fun with toilet duty," Terriermon snickered.

      "... But...," Impmon turned to stare at Pandamon.  "He'll try and HUG me!"

      "That's why you evolve to Beelzebumon," Ruki snorted.  "He can't touch you if you're in your Mega form."

      "... At least you're better than Miss Condescending, Mr. Loud Mouth Bunny Man, or Mr. No Pants Pervy Boy," Pandamon shrugged.

      "I'm NOT a pervert!" Takato snapped.  "And I'm wearing pants!"

      "... FINE," Impmon sighed, then crossed his arms and tromped for the door.  "You people make ME do all the dirty work."

      Pandamon squirmed a bit, then fixed Yamaki with a look.  "... WELL?"

      "If we untie you, you'll escape," Yamaki commented blandly.

      "No, I can't," Pandamon shrugged.

      "Why not?" Jenrya asked.

      "Because you already thought of it!" Pandamon blinked.

      "What does THAT have to do with anything?" Ruki snorted.

      "It'd be copyright infringement," Pandamon sniffed.  "I don't get messed up in THAT."

      Everyone stared at Pandamon, blankly.

      Pandamon paused, then glanced around and scowled.  "HELLO?" he barked.  "Did you FORGET already!?"

      "Just untie the moron," Impmon muttered.

      "MORON?" Pandamon fixed Impmon a look.  "That's not a cute word for such a cute digimon to use!"

      "I... AM... NOT... CUTE!" Impmon snarled.

      "Denial, denial," Pandamon sniffed, then twitched and let out an exasperated grunt.  "AHEM!"

      "Of course you are, Impmon," Terriermon chuckled.  "You're the CUUUTEST digimon EVER!"

      "AHEM!" Pandamon repeated, hotly.

      "... Just hurry up and take him before he makes a mess on the carpet," Yamaki said, exasperated.

      "EXCUSE ME, Mr. Lighter Brain!" Pandamon barked.  "I don't MAKE MESSES!"

      Impmon sighed, exasperated, and tromped over to untie Pandamon.  Pandamon blinked, then dusted himself off.

      "Finally... geez," Pandamon grunted.

      "Don't try anything, or you'll regret it," Yamaki warned.

      Pandamon turned to look at Yamaki, then stuck out his tongue.  "You're STILL jealous of me."

      "..." Yamaki simply clicked his lighter.

      Pandamon hopped down from the chair and trotted to the door, followed by Impmon.  As they stepped outside, the Tamers could hear Pandamon pause, then giggle cutely.

      "You sulk cute, too."

      "I ain't cute, damn it!"

      "Yes you aaaaare."

      "... I'M GOING TO HURT YOU!"

      "... Such an interesting character," Ruki's grandmother blinked.

      Sera watched Impmon and Pandamon go, wondering if she was supposed to go with Impmon or slash a card to evolve him.  However, since the subject was taking a digimon to the bathroom, plus the fact that Impmon didn't seem to need a card to evolve him, she decided just to be quiet instead.

      "Are you sure he's evil?" Ruki's mother blinked.  "He just seems quirky to me!"

      "He kidnapped Tsuyosa along with half the kids in town," Takato pointed out, frowning.  "That counts as evil to me."

      "... But he just doesn't act like I'd expect an evil digimon to act," Ruki's mother muttered.  "He actually seems rather pleasant!"

      "He's so... cheerful," Takato's dad blinked.  "It's scary!"

      "I bet it's just an act," Ruki commented cynically.  "You can catch people off-guard if you pretend to be nice."

      "... He seems so sad inside," Ruki's grandmother frowned.  "You wouldn't normally see it, but it's there... deep in his eyes..."

      At that moment, Pandamon walked into the room, followed by a very irritated Impmon.

      As Pandamon walked over to the chair and stared at it, Impmon turned to glare at the Tamers.  "Don't... EVER... do that to me again," he hissed, pointing at them for emphasis.

      Then, he turned and trotted over to Sera and jumped in to her lap.

      "Awww," Pandamon grunted.  "Not this again."

      "Uh... sorry, Impmon," Takato apologized while Jenrya nodded and Ruki just shrugged.

      Sera hugged Impmon after he landed into her lap.  "I'll get you a cake after this, okay?" she whispered quietly to him.

      "You better," Impmon scowled.

      Pandamon crossed his arms and huffed.  "I don't wanna," he pouted.

      Yamaki looked at Pandamon blandly.  "Sit."  It obviously wasn't a suggestion.

      "No," Pandamon glared at Yamaki.  "Those things are uncomfortable and itchy!"

      "Sit," Yamaki repeated as he clicked his lighter.

      Pandamon twitched slightly then narrowed his eyes and fixed Yamaki with a poisonous glare.

      "Cooperate or you'll be forced to do so," Yamaki warned.

      "... You're a dork," Pandamon muttered as he sat down in the chair, glowering.

      Quickly and efficiently, Yamaki tied Pandamon back up, tugging on the bungee cords once finished to make sure that they were secure.

      "Now that that's taken care of...  Where are Shuichon and her partner?" Yamaki asked.

      "I don't like you," Pandamon scowled.

      "Just answer the question."

      "I told you before.  I don't have to answer that.  What HE does is none of MY business!" Pandamon spat.

      "Who is HE?"

      "My Lady," Pandamon replied.

      "... You just said HE."

      "I know," Pandamon beamed.  "He is My Lady."

      "... So he's a cross-dresser?" Ruki's eyes widened.  "Just like Shuichon's kidnapper!?"

      "Hey, I don't poke my nose in to THOSE things," Pandamon sniffed.  "If the savior of our world wants to wear women's clothes, he can wear them for all I care!"

      "Savior of your world?" Yamaki repeated.  "What do you mean?"

      "..." Pandamon suddenly grew very serious as he stared at the ceiling.  "... ... He's rebuilding us after the Great Destruction."

      "The Great Destruction?" Jenrya repeated as he arched an eyebrow.

      "Do you mean the D-Reaper?" Yamaki asked.

      "..." Pandamon closed his eyes.  "...  ...  No... no, it was after that...  There was a lull... like everything was finally going to be okay!  It lasted for a while... and it seemed like we'd finally have some peace... but something was wrong...  Months past and it grew worse.  A pressure... like a great amount of weight... it kept building and building... until it collapsed."

      There was silence for a few moments before Yamaki turned to look at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Do any of you know anything about this?" he asked.

      "Everything... everything collapsed," Pandamon opened his eyes and he looked near tears, apparently ignoring Yamaki.  "EVERYTHING.  It started with the sky... it seemed to crack... like an eggshell... and this checkerboard SOMETHING appeared in the sky, raining down on us.  But that wasn't the worst of it... because then everything started to SQUEEZE."

      "A checkerboard?" Takato blinked.

      "The layers," Pandamon choked, as if in his own little world.  "The layers slammed in to each other, like they were being squeezed by some great force... crushing thousands...  KILLING thousands...  We thought we were safe after the D-Reaper... but then our own home was KILLING us!"

      "G-Guilmon?" Takato turned to stare at his Digimon.  "Did you see any of this...?  When we came to get you... I didn't see anything...  It just looked like it always did!"

      "No," Guilmon blinked.  "Didn't see anyone, either!"

      "... The Digital World was empty... unnaturally empty," Renamon grunted, quietly.  "We never saw another digimon... not once.  I thought it was due to the D-Reaper's massacre."

      "It was creepy!" Terriermon exclaimed.

      "... It was weird," Impmon agreed, suddenly very quiet.  "It was like we were the only digimon there!"

      "... Did we get out just in time?" Jenrya paled as it dawned on him at how close they had come to experiencing the horrors Pandamon was describing.

      "... We must have...," Ruki muttered.  "... Which means... we were the lucky ones."

      "What could have caused that to happen...?" Janyuu muttered to himself.

      "No one was safe!  We were dying so fast... you couldn't look around without seeing someone shatter!  SHATTER!" Pandamon whimpered, growing steadily more hysterical.

      "That's terrible!" Sera gasped, aghast.

      "But then...," Pandamon seemed to instantly brighten as his eyes shimmered with adoration.  "Then HE came!  He stopped it!  He saved us... he came from the sky and saved us from the Great Destruction!  He's like one divine Holy Beast but SO much more!  He promised to protect us!  He said he'd help us rebuild!  Finally, we'd have peace!"

      "... Speaking of which...  What happened to the Holy Beasts...?" Jenrya muttered.  "Weren't they there at the time...?  Did D-Reaper...?"

      "No one knows," Pandamon shrugged.  "They just disappeared... ditched us."

      "Why would they do that?" Takato blinked, utterly confused.

      "Because they're cowards?" Pandamon beamed, wiggling his ears despite how utterly vicious the comment itself sounded.

      "... Yeah, whatever.  Who is HE and what kind of digimon is he, anyway?!" Ruki demanded, a little irritated.

      "My Lady Reapermon can't be described," Pandamon replied.

      "_Reaper_mon?" Jenrya blinked, instantly wondering if there was some connection between that name and the D-Reaper.

      "... Huh.  I've never heard of that digimon before," Sera muttered.

      "He doesn't even ask much, either!" Pandamon continued, absently.  "All he requests in return are tribunes of women's clothing, chocolate, or tampons!"  Pandamon paused, then stuck his tongue out with a silly grin.  "I don't know what tampons are but they're probably some kind of candy."

      "Women's clothing and tampons?" Ruki blinked slowly before her expression shifted to one of disgust.  "This Reapermon must be the ultimate pervert!"

      "Of course," Pandamon's expression suddenly darkened.  "There is the matter of THAT PUPPET."

      "Puppet?" Takato blinked, thoughts of Juri instantly coming to mind.

      "His second in command!" Pandamon growled, hoarsely.  "He's so vicious...  I don't know WHY my Lady Reapermon keeps that blasted Leomon Puppet around!  He probably just doesn't want to hurt that sadistic creature's feelings!"

      "... Reapermon has a Leomon puppet...," Jenrya said slowly as realization dawned.

      "You don't think...," Takato breathed.

      "... It's got to be the D-Reaper!" Ruki gasped.  "It has to be!"

      "Of course, My Lady Reapermon DOES have his mood swings," Pandamon blinked.  "But that only happens when you don't bring him the right chocolate.  You KNOW how THEY are during That Time Of The Month,"

      "But how?  How can the D-Reaper still exist?" Jenrya asked, ignoring Pandamon.  "I thought Operation Doodlebug deleted it."  Jenrya looked to his father for answers.  "Didn't it?"

      "... It must have somehow survived the compression and escaped to the Digital World...," Janyuu breathed, eyes slightly wider than normal.  "And... and when it did... it must have... caused Operation Doodlebug to... spread..."

      "... Dad... what... did you do...?" Jenrya whispered, very pale.

      "... Compression?" Pandamon repeated, suddenly very aware of Janyuu.  "Compression as in... pressure?"

      Janyuu looked at Pandamon, eyes widening as he came to a horrible realization.

      "... AS IN... SQUEEZE?!" Pandamon shrieked, suddenly very livid, as he tried to lunge at Janyuu.  "AS IN... THE GREAT DESTRUCTION!?!!"

      "Is it possible Operation Doodlebug had more affect on the Digital World than what we first believed?" Yamaki glanced at Janyuu.

      "... It... it shouldn't have caused it...," Janyuu shook his head weakly in denial as he stared off into space, horrified.  "... It wasn't supposed to do that...!  It was only supposed to destroy the D-Reaper and send the digimon back where they belong... not destroy them!"

      "YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE!?" Pandamon shrieked, ignoring Janyuu's muttering.

      "... Could Operation Doodlebug have affected not just the time boundaries of the Digital World and the Real World, but the layers between them as well?" Reika asked, speaking up suddenly.

      "THOUSANDS DEAD!  THOUSANDS!" Pandamon continued to scream, ignoring the conversation as he focused entirely on Janyuu.  "AND IT'S ALL _YOUR_ FAULT!  MURDERER!!!"

      "... It's... possible...," Janyuu said slowly, horrified.  "... We didn't know... what real affect it was going to have on either world...  It was a last-ditch resort...!"

      "Last... DITCH...?!" Pandamon stared at Janyuu.  "You just made a DESTRUCTIVE program and USED it... without even thinking about what it could do!?"

      "We had no choice!" Janyuu protested, his voice thick.  "The fate of the entire world depended on it!"

      "Who's world, though!?" Pandamon snarled. "YOURS?"

      "W-well...," Janyuu fumbled, suddenly very self-conscious.

      "Let me guess," Pandamon purred, his expression suddenly very vicious.  "It never crossed your mind.  It was all YOUR world.  WE don't count... because WE'RE just DATA, right?"

      "..." Janyuu said nothing, staring at Pandamon.

      "That's exactly it, isn't it?" Pandamon hissed, his eyes narrowed.  "So what if we were destroyed, right?  We're just data... doesn't affect YOU at ALL.  You'd sooner kill us all... even your CHILDREN'S digimon... just to save your own, cowardly, selfish, egotistical, insensitive HIDE!"

      "..." Jenrya said nothing, his expression forcibly neutral.  He turned to look at his father, slowly.  "... Well?"

      "Tell me," Pandamon grinned in a shark-like fashion, eyes glittering.  "How long did you THINK about it before you signed our death certificates and dismissed us as a PERMISSABLE SACRIFICE?"

      "W-well...," Janyuu began.

      "Ten minutes?" Pandamon broke in.

      "Y-you see..."

      "FIVE minutes?"

      "Wait, I..."

      "ONE MINUTE?"

      "Just... we..."

      "WAS IT EVEN THIRTY SECONDS!?!" Pandamon shrieked, suddenly livid once more.

      "I... I..."

      "YOU SACRIFICED US!  YOU THREW OUR LIVES AWAY!  ALMOST ALL OF MY FRIENDS DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!!!" Pandamon roared.  "MURDERER!  _MURDERER!!!!_"

      "We didn't know...," Janyuu weakly repeated, apparently in a state of shock as he looked down at his hands, which were shaking violently.

      "MURDERER!" Pandamon repeated, hotly.  "How dare you...  YOU kill us and then have the audacity to try and make our savior out to be a bad person who kidnaps people!  HOW DARE YOU!  You WANTED us to die!  YOU WANTED TO KILL US ALL!"

      "... It... wasn't... supposed... to be... like this...," Janyuu whispered as tears spilled from his eyes.

      "... ...," Jenrya said nothing, simply looking at his father with a neutral, almost cold expression.  It was much like the one he had when his father informed him that he had sacrificed Terriermon, separating them, even if it was for a short while.

      Janyuu's wife placed her hand on her husband's shoulder, offering him her quiet and gentle support even if she had no idea what to think of the entire situation.

      "You killed us...  YOU killed THOUSANDS of INNOCENT digimon...  All of their deaths... are on your head...," Pandamon hissed, suddenly very spent as he went limp in the chair and panted quietly.

      Silence reigned among those gathered aside from Pandamon's heavy breathing, the ramifications of how high the price of victory was, was staggering.  Not even the previously believed cost of the Tamers being separated from their digimon was as horrible.

      "We don't even have Primary Village anymore!" Pandamon choked out, shaking.  "It's destroyed!  They won't be reborn!  No one can be reborn!  They're all dead and they're STAYING dead... and it's all your fault!"

      No one else spoke.  There was nothing that could be said.  Even Pandamon had nothing else to say, simply gasping as he struggled with the hideous truth.

      "..."  Yamaki was the first to break the silence.  "If the D-Reaper hadn't been destroyed by Operation Doodlebug, then BOTH worlds would have been lost," he said calmly.

      "So you decided to just kill us!" Pandamon whispered.  "You decided that your lives were worth more than our own and that we were expendable!"

      "We didn't know!" Janyuu cried as he buried his face in his hands.

      "I lost everyone...," Pandamon clenched the chair, surprisingly strong.  "My friends... my entire village... they all died right in front of me!  Black Tailmon... she had a FAMILY... brother and sisters!  All dead!  She even had a mate!  They were going to start a family!"

      "You... it's your fault...  She won't have her family...  There won't be any tiny little Tailmons running around because of you," Pandamon looked at Janyuu, as if he were suddenly dead inside.  "I'll never see my friends again.  And Opossomon...  Opossomon...  He'll never be the same...  His entire MIND was shattered... because of you!"

      "How could you do this to us?" Pandamon whispered.  "... What did we ever do to you?"

      Ruki shivered repeatedly and leaned back in to the couch, closing her eyes.  Her grandmother slowly slipped an arm around her and held her close, her expression soft.  Her mother took her hand, squeezing it in an assuring manner, a worried expression her face.  Renamon said nothing, though her expression displayed a great sadness.

      Takato felt numb and his legs nearly gave out beneath him, but his dad took a hold of him from behind and supported him.  His mom swept him up in a loving hug, supporting him as well.  Guilmon drooped and snuggled in against his Tamer and his parents.

      Jenrya stared at his father as he wept into his hands, his mother slipping her arm around him.  Janyuu leaned against his wife slightly as he cried.  Jenrya didn't know what to think or feel, his entire body numb.  He wanted to comfort his father, but a small voice strongly reminded him that his father did indeed sacrifice countless digimon lives as expendable.  Among those lives included Terriermon's.

      Jenrya looked at his father, his eyes burning, before he slowly turned away to look elsewhere.

      Impmon shivered uncontrollably.

      Sera looked down at Impmon and held him as close to her as she possibly could.  She didn't know any more about the D-Reaper and all that had been involved with it any more than the average person who had watched the news broadcasts about it, but she knew enough to understand the conversation.

      "All over again," Impmon whispered.  "It's like it's happening all over again...  I tried... and we still messed up..."

      "It'll be okay, Impmon...," Sera whispered softly into her partner's ear.  She didn't know if that was true or not, and the words would most likely have no affect on Impmon, but it was all she could do.

      Yamaki and his assistants stood in silence, gazing at sympathy at the Tamers, their digimon, and their parents.

      "... No one... must ever... know..."

      "..."  Yamaki glanced at Pandamon.  "What?" he asked quietly.

      "NO ONE... must ever know," Pandamon repeated, more firmly.  He slowly looked up, his eyes dark and pained.

      "..." Yamaki locked gazes with Pandamon.

      "We've come too far...  It'd hurt too many...  It'd tear open all of the wounds we've worked so hard to heal," Pandamon muttered, his voice slowly leveling out to a monotone, an empty tone.  "My Circus... when I started it, everyone was in so much pain...  Black Tailmon tried to mutilate herself...  Opossomon couldn't even speak coherently...  But I gave them hope... gave them someplace to be, something to do... and slowly... they started to heal."

      Pandamon lowered his head, staring at the floor for a minute.

      "... If you just smile... if you hide your pain... hide what bothers you... and just smile... smile as brightly as you can... and pretend to be happy...," Pandamon slowly looked up.  His eyes were dark but then a shield visibly seemed to slam down in his eyes, locking away the pain and hurt as if it had never been there.  His eyes brightened, as innocent and cheerful as he had been before the whole situation had come to light.  "... Then everyone around you will be happy!" he said, cheerfully.

      "..." Yamaki merely flicked his lighter quietly.

      "You'd be living a lie!" Ruki hissed.

      "... But we'd be living!" Pandamon replied, happily.  "That's really all that matters, you know!"

      "What about REAL happiness?" Takato asked quietly.

      "They're happy now," Pandamon replied, calmly.  "There's no point in them knowing...  It won't matter or fix anything.  It'll only make things worse.  They're happy now... so they don't need to know."

      "... And you?" Renamon asked, suddenly.  "What about you?  You know."

      "So?" Pandamon smiled, brightly.  "You'd never guess by looking at me!"

      "..." Renamon's eyes narrowed.

      "If I don't let others know it hurts, then they won't hurt too!" Pandamon continued.  "And eventually, if you shove it down far enough inside of you... you won't even notice it anymore.  Except when you're alone!"

      "..." Impmon slumped against Sera.

      "Everything's fine!" Pandamon repeated.  "Everything is fine!"

      "How... how can you say that everything's fine?!" Ruki whispered, hoarsely.

      "Because everything IS fine!" Pandamon smiled, tilting his head and wiggling his ears.  "We're alive, we're happy... we have tons of shows and traveling everywhere we can to all the refugees... and they're always happy after the show...  We're all fine!"

      "... But you'll be forcing your feelings down... hiding them from everyone!" Ruki protested.

      "What good would it do if I let anyone know how I felt?" Pandamon asked.  "Would it change anything?"

      "..." Ruki's jaw clenched.

      "It would allow you to unleash your feelings before they become too much for you to handle," Renamon added, oddly profound.  "Keep them bottled up inside long enough and they will explode violently."

      "It'd only upset people... make them lose faith in humans. Lose faith in everything," Pandamon shrugged.  "They need faith...  They don't need to know this.  They need hope... and if you lose hope, you may as well be dead."

      "... You'd be willing to do that to yourself?" Impmon asked, suddenly choked.

      "Of course," Pandamon beamed brightly.  "I don't need hope or faith.  But everyone else does...  So I pretend I do.  I do it every day when I have to look at My Lady Reapermon.  They need someone to look up to... to have faith in.  Even if it's a bunch of selfish humans or a psychopathic My Lady Reapermon."

      "... What if you just rebuild Primary Village?" Sera asked suddenly.  "That would give everyone hope, because then everyone who died would be reborn."

      "... Primary Village?" Ruki repeated, as if the term were foreign to her.

      "Primary Village... is where all Digimon are born," Renamon explained, quietly.

      "Was," Pandamon amended.

      "... Wait, wait!  REBORN!?" Ruki stood up.  "What are you talking about!?"

      "As long as we had Primary Village... digimon never really died.  They were reborn as eggs," Pandamon explained, calmly.  "Our data would become eggs and we'd fall from the sky to Primary Village... where we'd hatch with the same memories and personalities as before."  Pandamon paused, then shook his head.  "But it was destroyed... rather brutally, too."

      "But it can be rebuilt, right?" Sera asked as she glanced around.  "I mean... it was able to be rebuilt in the anime."

      "Couldn't you do something, dad?" Jenrya whispered.

      "...  ...  I... I don't know...," Janyuu whispered, his voice hoarse.  "... I guess... I could... get the rest of the Wild Bunch... and we could... try something..."

      "Heh, that'd be the LEAST you'd owe us, wouldn't it?" Pandamon snickered, then tilted his head.  "But do we reaaaally want you messing around with your PROGRAMS again?  Given that you tried to KILL US with your last one?  Do you reaaally think you're as good at building a program to REBUILD as you are at building one to DESTROY?" he asked, his voice light and humorous despite the words themselves.

      "..." Janyuu suddenly stood up, his expression stern and determined.  "... No...  No, we're going to do this..."

      Pandamon blinked as Janyuu suddenly lunged at him and grabbed his bound paw, shakily.

      "I promise you... I promise every digimon... whether they know it or not...," Janyuu hissed.  "I'm going to fix this...  I am going to fix everything or die trying!"

      Pandamon's eyes widened as he tried to shrink away from the powerful gaze of Janyuu.  "Um..." Pandamon seemed at a loss.

      "I've got to go...  We've got to start!" Janyuu reared up.  "Yamaki!  Try and contact the rest of the Bunch!  I don't care how you do it!  We're going to need your lab again!"

      "Right," Yamaki nodded, cracking a small smile.  "Time to get to work."  He looked at his assistants.  "Let's get some calls made, ladies."

      "Um...," Pandamon blinked repeatedly, obviously overwhelmed.

      "But what about Shuichon?" Jenrya's mother asked, suddenly.  "What about Shuichon?!"

      "We're going to go get her," Jenrya said, suddenly.  "We're going to go find her and rescue her."

      "But you don't even know where in the Digital world she is or who kidnapped her or why!" Jenrya's mother cried, bordering on hysterics.

      "Momentai," Terriermon smirked in an assuring manner at Jenrya's mother.  "We saved Culumon and we had no idea about anything with him.  We can save Shuichon and Lopmon too!"

      "Don't forget, we have someone who does know what happened to them," Renamon calmly pointed out as she gazed at Pandamon.

      Pandamon blinked and stared back.

      "Alright, bear!" Ruki stood up and approached the bound Ultimate.  "Tell us!"

      "..." Pandamon fixed Ruki with a gaze.  "You're joking."

      "No, we're not," Jenrya said as he approached Pandamon as well.  "You'd better start talking."

      "Why's everyone suddenly getting so close to me?" Pandamon's eyes widened.  "What ever happened to personal space!?"

      "Tell us what you know about what happened to Shuichon and Lopmon, or you're going to have your personal space violated," Takato glared as he joined the other two Tamers next to Pandamon.

      "... You mean you really are in to THAT stuff!?" Pandamon's eyes widened like saucers.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked, not comprehending what Pandamon meant.

      "I don't believe it!" Pandamon squeaked.  "You really ARE a pervert!"

      "I AM NOT A PERVERT!" Takato snapped.

      "But you said you were going to VIOLATE me!" Pandamon wailed.  "I didn't go through hell to get violated by a bunch of kids!"

      "... What're you talking about?!" Takato demanded, angry and confused.  "It was just an expression!"

      "As in, Akkenai violate," Impmon pointed out.

      "Eh?!" Takato looked at Impmon before he turned to stare at Pandamon.  "I didn't mean it THAT way!"

      "How would I know that!?" Pandamon whimpered.  "You did undress those transvestite with your eyes!  I only have a bandanna!  It wouldn't take MUCH!"

      "I DO NOT UNDRESS PEOPLE WITH MY EYES!" Takato protested hotly.

      "...  Pandamon's changing the subject so he doesn't have to answer you," Sera pointed out.

      "... He's rather good at it, too.  He knows the right topics," Renamon observed.

      "Just tell us where they are and who took them!" Jenrya demanded, his patience wearing thin.

      "Eeee!" Pandamon blinked repeatedly.  "You're so HOSTILE!"

      "Please..."

      Pandamon's ears pricked and he stared as Jenrya's mother slowly walked up behind the children, looking at him.

      "Please... it's my little girl...," she whispered.  "Please... I just want her safe...  I want her home... please..."

      Pandamon stared as the woman kneeled down to his eye level and looked at him, her eyes shimmering with barely controlled tears.

      "Please... I'm begging you...," she sobbed.  "Please..."

      "Mom...," Jenrya whispered as he watched his mother.

      "..." Pandamon's expression softened as he looked at her, quietly.  "...  ...  They use my trailer to go back and forth between the two worlds... but I don't have any connection to them...  But I do know where they go... and they probably took her to his fortress."

      "Why... why would they take her?" Jenrya's mom snuffled.

      "... You're not going to believe this...," Pandamon said, slowly.  "... But probably so he can have a tea party with her."


	35. Preparations for Departure

Authors' Notes: Hey everybody!  You all know the drill; we're late for circumstances beyond our control, and this story belongs to us, as do our characters.  Don't worry about this chapter being censored or uncensored as it's all one delightful uncensored story with no yaoi in sight.  Yet.  ;P

      Now, we'd like to address something that has come to our attention: Pronunciation of character names.

      Tsuyosa is Su-yo-sa.  The t sound IS present... but it is very soft and hardly heard at all.  The Tsu is thus generally pronounced as 'su', as in 'to sue someone'.  If you want to attempt to make the 't' sound, which I've always found to be hard unless you take Japanese, it's Tsu... with a small 't' sound followed by 'Su'.  The yo is yo as in "YO!" and sa is like "Open wide and say 'Aaaaah!'"

      Sera is pretty easy, as there aren't quite so many sounds.  The Japanese tend to group their sounds in pairs... basically pairing letters with their vowels, (a, i, u, e, o) to make their writing system... Chi and Tsu break that pattern, but all other hiragana/katakana outside of the vowels, Chi, and Tsu are in pairs... like Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko... and, in this case, Se and Ra.

      Se is pronounced 'Seh'... with Ra pronounced 'Rah' as in "RAH RAH RAH!".

      Akkenai is where it gets tricky.  Right off the bat, you'll notice there are two 'k's in the name.  The Japanese don't have single letters. It's either vowels, chi, tsu, or letters paired with the vowels.  So how can there be two 'k's? Well, it involves a small character (ironically, it's the same character as tsu) that is written half the size of all the other characters.  When put up before a character like, in this case, 'Ke'... it doubles the letter, making it 'kke'.

      Now that I've said that... Akkenai is pronounced Ah-Keh-Nai.  Ah as in "AAAAH!", Ke, as in KEH, and Nai as in N-I (as in "Me, Myself, and I")

      Sorry about the length of this chapter's Authors' Notes, but since it was asked of us, we must respond.  Without further ado, let's get on with the show!  ^_^

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 25: Preparations for Departure_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa leaned against the wall, holding ChibiBa tightly in his arms.  He stood in the large apartment he shared with his father, up on the top floor of Digital Max Tower.  It looked much like a hotel suite, with its spacious room and small garden on the balcony overlooking the city.

      It was just perfect for two people and a digimon.

      Tsuyosa took a deep breath and tried to stop his shaking as he closed his eyes.

      "You don't have to, you know," ChibiBa pointed out.  "We could just go to the Digital World and not tell him."

      "... He'd worry," Tsuyosa muttered.  "I know he would... Even if it'd be easier to just go... I know he'd worry..."

      "... Tsu...," ChibiBa nuzzled his Tamer.

      "... I've got to tell him, ChibiBa... about where we're going and... about you," Tsuyosa muttered.  "But... but what if he reacts badly?"

      "He's still your dad," ChibiBa pointed out.  "He'll love you no matter what."

      "..." Tsuyosa nodded slightly.  "I know... but..."

      "But nothing.  Let's go... it'll be okay," ChibiBa soothed.  "Let's just see what happens."

      "... Okay...," Tsuyosa closed his eyes, then stood up and walked towards a door across the hall.  He paused and stared at it before he timidly raised his hand and knocked on it.

      "Door's unlocked!  You can come in, Tsu!" came the cheerful call.

      "... ..." Tsuyosa straightened his shoulders, then grabbed the doorknob and turned it.  The door opened up to a home office, complete with desk and bookshelves.  Tsuyosa's father, Mr. Tengoku, sat at the desk as he typed away at a large computer.

      "What can I do for you, tiger?" Mr. Tengoku asked as he typed away.

      "... I... Dad, we need to talk about something," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "Oh?" Mr. Tengoku paused and glanced up to blink at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa paused, then swallowed hard and closed his eyes.

      "... Dad... I want you to meet ChibiBa," Tsuyosa muttered, hefting up ChibiBa so his dad could see.

      ChibiBa and Mr. Tengoku locked eyes, staring at each other with blank expressions.  Silence reigned and Tsuyosa held perfectly still, terrified of what might happen next.

      He was not prepared, however, for what did happen next.

      "So the little gremlin has a name now?" Mr. Tengoku grinned, cheerfully.  "Nice to finally meet you face to face, ChibiBa.  I was wondering when Tsu'd introduce us!"

      "... Huh?" Tsuyosa opened his eyes and stared at his father.

      "Ah?" ChibiBa's jaw dropped.

      "So I guess this means you won't try to drop me out of any more buildings, right ChibiBa?" Mr. Tengoku continued, happily.

      "HUH!?" Tsuyosa stared, blankly.

      "... They were accidents, Mr. Tsu's Dad," ChibiBa gulped, pale.

      "Please, call me Kigaru."

      "Dad... you knew?" Tsuyosa whispered.

      "Of course," Kigaru chuckled.  "I may seem like a ditzy little airhead but I notice a lot of things."

      "..." ChibiBa stared.

      "When?  How!?" Tsuyosa's jaw took its turn to fall slack.

      "I'd come home late some nights and check up on you," Kigaru replied.  "And I'd see ChibiBa on the bed, curled up like a big guard dog."

      "He could have been a doll...," Tsuyosa muttered, dazed.

      "Never heard of any Digimon dolls that snore," Kigaru pointed out.

      "And it... didn't bother you?" Tsuyosa asked.

      "Why should it?" Kigaru blinked.  "He protected you... cared for you... and you obviously cared back because you're always with him.  I couldn't have found a better playmate or protector for my son if I tried."

      "... Dad... I..."  Tsuyosa's eyes shimmered.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you..."

      "It's fine," Kigaru grinned as he stood up and walked over to the two.  "Some parents aren't as understanding.  But you see, I'm as much a blonde ditz as you can get without having the actual hair color," he chuckled.  "I want what's best for you, even if it's a gremlin that tries to kill me."

      "..." ChibiBa just stared, dumbfounded.

      "... Daddy...," Tsuyosa whimpered, then clung to his father and hugged him.  ChibiBa squeaked as he was crushed between the two, and blinked helplessly.

      "Tsu...," Kigaru hugged his son back, then grinned.  "Well then!  Let's celebrate!  How about I get all THREE of us ice cream?"

      "All the ice cream I want?" ChibiBa gasped, suddenly finding his voice.

      "You bet," Kigaru grinned.  "You won't have to steal all of Tsu's this time!"

      "... Tsu?"

      "Yes, ChibiBa?"

      "... I think your dad's kinda cool."

**_*~*_**

      Takato sat next to Guilmon within the confines of his partner's shrine home, drawing in his notebook.  Beside him Guilmon was preoccupying himself with eating an entire picnic basket's worth of bread while his Tamer drew.

      After what they had found out from Pandamon, Takato had wanted to go off and spend some time along with Guilmon at his shrine.  Takato felt somewhat guilty about not spending time with his parents before he left, but he just needed time alone with Guilmon for a little while.

      Takato drew whatever caught his interest at the time as thoughts churned around inside of his head.  He had just finished drawing a picture of Guilmon next to his picnic basket.  Now he had started work on drawing a new picture, one of Tsuyosa.

      Everything had been planned out at Yamaki's office.  Takato, Ruki, Jenrya, Sera, and Tsuyosa would go to the Digital World with their partners while Kenta, Hirokazu, and Ryo would stay behind and keep watch to make sure Reapermon didn't try anything against the Real World.

      Juri's dad had been informed about the possibility of Reapermon coming after Juri, and he had immediately left with her and their family to a relative's house in Hokkaido.  Mr. Katou was taking no chances this time.

      Takato's parents, like most of the parents of the other Tamers who were leaving, made arrangements for him to be excused from school for an indefinite period of time.  Takato idly wondered if Miss Asanuma would get upset like last time when he, Juri, Hirokazu, and Kenta had all sent her notes about them leaving the first time they left for the Digital World.

      Part of Takato hadn't want Tsuyosa to go, he was so sickly and vulnerable after all, but Yamaki insisted that ChibiBa and Tsuyosa would be invaluable after he had been fully informed about the two of them.  That and Pandamon seemed to be more cooperative at the idea of Tsuyosa going along.

      Takato sighed as he continued to draw.  He just hoped nothing terrible would happen while they were in the Digital World.

      Like what had happened to Juri and Leomon.

      Takato sighed and quickly switched his thoughts to another topic.  Pandamon, after some convincing from Mrs. Lee, was to guide the Tamers to Reapermon's palace after they arrived in the Digital World.  Takato could only hope that Pandamon wouldn't try to double-cross them and lead them into a trap.

      Takato paused to stare out the door to the shrine.  After the D-Reaper, he had been so devastated at the thought of permanently losing Guilmon.  He had tried to continue with his life, but ultimately couldn't forget about his friend.  That was when he found the gate in the shrine.

      He and the other Tamers had quickly left for the Digital World the very next day, out to find their digimon and bring them back.  Apparently, whatever disturbance Operation Doodlebug had done that forced them to go back had, in effect, fixed itself over time.

      Or so they thought.

      Everything had seemed fine when they went to find their digimon, who had stayed together while trying to find their own way to reuniting with their Tamers.

      The Digital World wasn't any different than before, save abnormally quiet and empty.  Almost eerily quiet, in fact.  Takato hadn't ever thought about it, however, as he was too thrilled with finding Guilmon.

      The fact that the entire world collapsed shortly after they found their digimon and left terrified him.

      As far as Takato could understand it, the Digital World had tried to fix itself after the whole Operation Doodlebug incident.  Apparently it had managed to link itself with the Real World again, thus allowing digimon to exist there once more.

      However, the strain created by Operation Doodlebug must have been too much and slowly wearing down on the entire reality that was the Digital World.  Though it didn't destroy the Digital World entirely, it managed to put enough pressure on the already weakened world to make it implode on itself.

      Despite the horror of it all, Takato couldn't help but feel grateful that he and his friends were able to make it out with their digimon before it occurred, but he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty over that fact, as they were the only ones able to be saved.

      Takato shivered slightly, his entire body suddenly cold.  He closed his eyes and tried to will away the unpleasant thoughts of what he and the others had so narrowly avoided.

      At that moment, he felt a warm body press against his side.  Takato opened his eyes and turned to look at Guilmon, who snuggled up against him and looked at him with wide, brilliant eyes.

      "Guilmon...?" Takato muttered.

      "It's okay now, Takato," Guilmon said, showing yet another rare glimpse of wisdom.  "No need to think about it."

      Takato blinked slowly then smiled at Guilmon.  "Okay, I won't, Guilmon," Takato said softly as he reached out to hug his partner.  Guilmon practically purred as he hugged his Tamer, tail lashing happily.

      Takato sighed and slowly drew back as Guilmon returned to munching on his bread, though the digimon remained pressed up against his Tamer as a sort of silent support.

      Takato smiled at Guilmon, then returned to his previous position and continued drawing.  He smiled faintly as he admired his handiwork as he carefully drew the image out on the paper in his hands.  The drawing was of Tsuyosa giving one of his rare sweet smiles.  Takato couldn't help but think that it was his best drawing yet; next to the one that brought Guilmon to life of course.

      "Takato?"

      "Huh?" Takato blinked as he glanced up.

      Jenrya leaned in to the shrine, looking at him.  "I'm not intruding, am I?" he asked.

      "Oh, no," Takato smiled.  "Come on in, Jen."

      "Hi!" Guilmon chirped after he swallowed the bread he was chewing on.

      Jenrya smiled and walked in, bowing his head so he and Terriermon wouldn't hit the ceiling.

      "Snuck off for a quick snack?" Terriermon teased.

      "Yep!" Guilmon grinned as he pulled out another loaf of bread.

      Jenrya looked at the two, then Takato.  He slowly sat by the other boy and glanced at Terriermon.  "Hey Terriermon, why don't you and Guilmon go out and play?" he suggested.

      "Okay, Jen," Terriermon nodded.  "C'mon, Guilmon!  Betcha can't catch me!"  He hopped off Jenrya's shoulder then darted off quickly.

      "I betcha I can!" Guilmon said as he put the bread down and darted after Terriermon, laughing all the way.

      "Heh...," Jenrya chuckled, then turned to look at Takato.  "They really don't seem too bothered, do they?"

      "Yeah...," Takato tilted his head slightly.  "Either that or they're good at not showing it."

      Jenrya nodded, then blinked and glanced at Takato's picture.  "Say," he muttered.  "That's really good!"

      Takato blinked then blushed lightly at the complement.  "Ah, thanks, Jen," he smiled.

      "That expression...," Jenrya blinked.  "I've never seen him like that... but it looks good on him."

      "Yeah, I think so too," Takato said thoughtfully.  "I've only seen him smile like that a couple of times, so I wanted to draw it."

      "Things definitely change, huh," Jenrya grinned.  "To think when we last talked at camp, things were so different."

      "Yeah," Takato smiled back.  "Things never stay the same for very long do they?"

      "No," Jenrya agreed.  "But that's not all together a bad thing, either."

      Takato nodded, his expression thoughtful.

      Jenrya leaned back against the wall and stared at the ground, extremely quiet.

      "Jenrya?" Takato asked after a minute or so.

      "... Yes?" Jenrya didn't look up, his voice quiet.

      "You okay?" Takato asked, concerned.

      "... Yes...," Jenrya muttered as he tilted his head back.  "... I just hope Shuichon is."

      "I'm sure she'll be fine," Takato said, hoping that it wasn't a lie.  "I mean...  She's got Lopmon with her, and Pandamon did say that all that Reapermon wanted with her was to have a tea party with her."  Takato thought about asking Jenrya about how he was feeling about his father, but Takato couldn't help but get the feeling that the other boy wouldn't want to talk about it.

      "But why would he do that?" Jenrya closed his eyes.  "It doesn't make sense."

      "I know," Takato sighed.  "But neither does digimon wearing women's' underwear."

      "..."  Jenrya paused, then started to chuckle quietly.  "I... I know it's not something to laugh about but can you just see Shuichon having a tea party with a giant digimon in underwear?"

      Takato couldn't help himself and laughed with Jenrya.  "Yeah," he said as he shook his head slightly.  "I can imagine."

**_*~*_**

      "More tea, Princess?"

      "Yes, thank you, My Lady Queen!"

      Lopmon sweat-dropped.  This had to be the strangest tea party she had ever had with Shuichon.

      A large claw slipped out of the shadow and poured tea in to Shuichon's teacup, easily, as a cute little Leomon puppet 'lapped' hungrily at its own.

      Not to mention the scariest.

      Most children would have been terrified to even be near such a huge claw, as it generally meant the beast it belonged to was gigantic.  However, Shuichon simply accepted her tea and beamed.

      "Such a lovely tea party!" the shadowed creature sighed.  "So very delightful to have someone to have tea with!"

      "Rawr!" came the puppet's agreement.

      "Uh huh!" Shuichon smiled brightly.  "Thank you for inviting us, My Lady Queen!"

      "Of course!" 'My Lady' giggled.  "You're a delightful guest!  Truly DELIGHTFUL!"

      "Thank you!" Shuichon beamed before she sipped her tea.

      Lopmon sighed and quietly sipped her tea.  She hoped the others would come and rescue them soon.

**_*~*_**

      "... Sera... look, I don't think-"

      "Hmm...  Think I should bring matches or a lighter?"

      "Sera... it's going to be dangerous!" Impmon muttered.  "I told you that!  You might get hurt!  OR WORSE!"

      "Hrm...  You're right," Sera commented, holding a pack of matches in a waterproof case in one hand, and a lighter in the other.  "I'll bring both."  She put them into the large backpack she was packing up, acting as if Impmon had said something completely different than what really he had.

      "Argh!" Impmon tugged at his ears.  "You're not even the slightest bit worried!?"

      "Hmn...  Maybe I should bring a thick blanket too," Sera commented as she walked over to a nearby closet and looked around inside of it.  "Just a sleeping bag might not be enough if we come across snowy terrain."

      "... Look," Impmon sighed as he sat down on the counter.  "... You could die..."

      Impmon looked up and scowled as Sera continued to ignore him, packing.

      "Think three changes of clothes will be enough?" Sera asked off-handedly.  Impmon had been saying the same sort of things ever since they came back from Yamaki's office and the subsequent shopping they did for things needed for the trip.  After a while Sera gave up when Impmon kept repeating the same things over and over again.

      "Sera, the last time I went there, bad things happened!" Impmon snapped, then paused and faltered.  "... Juri lost Leomon there... because of me..."

      Sera finally stopped and turned to look at Impmon.  "Eh?" she blinked.

      "..." Impmon stared at the ground.  "Juri used to be a Tamer."

      "..." Sera sat down next to Impmon.  "What happened?"

      "... ..." Impmon flinched visibly and shivered.  "... I made a stupid mistake..."

      "Hn?" Sera blinked, a concerned look crossing her features.

      "... ...," Impmon closed his eyes.  "... I don't... want it to happen again."

      "Impmon...," Sera said gently as she reached out to gently cup Impmon's cheek.  "It won't happen..."  She smiled warmly at him.  "I have you to protect me."

      Impmon flinched, as those words seemed to have the exact opposite effect.  "... What if it's me you need protecting FROM?" he muttered.

      "What?" Sera blinked slowly.  "What're you talking about?"

      "... ..."

      Sera waited until it was apparent that Impmon wasn't going to answer her.  She frowned, wondering what it was that upset him so badly.  "... Well, I'm going with you anyway," she said firmly.

      "Sera, it's not a good idea," Impmon whispered.

      "It's better than me staying here while you go off without me," Sera said softly.  "We're partners... and we're supposed to protect each other...  If anything were to happen to you... I'd never forgive myself..."

      Impmon twitched visibly, then covered his face with his paws.

      "I know... I know that...," Impmon whispered.  "But... I..."

      Sera leaned in closer to Impmon before she reached out and suddenly swept him up into her arms, holding him comfortingly.  "Impmon...," she said softly, attempting to sooth him.  "I trust you."

      "Sera, I...," Impmon faltered, unsure of what he wanted to say, before he shook his head. "Y-you shouldn't."

      Sera paused as she looked down at Impmon.  A jumble of thoughts and emotions ran through her mind as she tried to figure out just how to let him know just how she felt.  He meant so much to her, and he needed to know just how much.  She closed her eyes for a few moments as she searched her heart for just the right words to say, and then opened them again as she came to a decision.

      "Impmon... I want you to know something...," Sera whispered as she cupped Impmon's cheek again, softly caressing his fur with her palm.

      "Yeah...?" Impmon's ears drooped slightly, unsure.

      Sera slipped her hand down to Impmon's chin and tilted his head upwards gently so that he'd look at her, her violet eyes gazing deeply into his green ones.

      "I love you."

      Impmon's eyes widened as the words echoed through his mind.  His emotions twirled about in a tornado, assaulting him on all sides and leaving him bewildered and confused.  Slowly, he swallowed.  "... You shouldn't...," he managed to whisper, numbly.

      "Oh..."  Sera leaned in closer to Impmon, drawn to him by emotions that would not be denied.  "I probably shouldn't do this either...," she whispered, her warm breath brushing against his lips.  Her own lips followed thereafter in a tender kiss filled with all her love.

      Impmon's cheeks flushed as his eyes widened even more, his mind suddenly blanking out completely after he realized that Sera had just kissed him.  His emotions ran wild like a rampaging bull, driven nearly insane by the kiss, and leaving him in its wake of senseless destruction.

      Sera felt a delighted shiver run up her spine.  The kiss was far more intense and wonderful than she ever dreamed it would be.

      The kiss seemed to last for a very long yet somehow also very short period of time before it finally came to an end with Sera leaning back slightly.  Her face was flushed, her breathing rapid as the kiss left her breathless.

      Impmon gasped for air as his eyes closed, desperately trying to regain his composure and control over his emotions.  He was even more confused than before, which only made the fact that he didn't trust himself to be near anyone, let alone Sera, all the more painful.

      Sera looked at Impmon as her expression showed the mixture of emotions she felt inside.  Part of her questioned the wisdom of revealing her strong feelings towards Impmon just as she herself realized she had them, but those feelings would not be denied, especially when she held her partner so close.

      Impmon found himself looking at Sera, unable to say anything.  He was at a total loss.  His emotions continued to rampage as a single thought crossed his mind.  Was this how Juri felt about Leomon...?

      The thought was like a blast of ice water, sending a shiver up Impmon's spine.

      Was Sera's confession just misplaced feelings due to the partner link?  Or were they how Juri felt about Leomon?  How exactly did Juri feel about Leomon?

      Impmon didn't know and was afraid to find out.  What if he hurt Sera like he had Juri?

      "Impmon...?" Sera whispered, her voice timid.  Uncertainty mixed with a little fear filled her.  What if she did the wrong thing and caused irreparable damage to the relationship between Impmon and her?

      "... S-Sera...," Impmon began, slowly.  He paused, then looked up at her with wide, shimmering eyes.  He looked almost vulnerable and plagued by emotions, with guilt being the dominant one.  "... I..."

      Sera couldn't help herself as she stroked Impmon's cheek gently.  She didn't know what she could say, or even what she should say.  Apologizing came to mind, but that would mean that she felt sorry about saying and doing what she did when she didn't.  All she knew for sure was that she didn't want whatever it was that was hurting Impmon to continue hurting him.

      Impmon swallowed hard and closed his eyes, trying to shove his feelings deep down inside himself.  He idly wondered if Pandamon had the right idea about sealing your feelings inside.

      "... Sera...," Impmon began, unsure of what to say, before looking at the floor.  "... I... don't want you to get hurt."

      Sera looked at Impmon in silence for a few moments as he kept his gaze from her.  She wasn't sure what to feel about what he said, but at least had somewhat of an idea.  She closed her eyes and tried to speak in spite of her confusion, because she knew that she needed to get through to him.  "Impmon...," she began quietly.  "... I don't want you hurt either..."

      "..." Impmon didn't know how to respond.  Sera obviously wasn't going to listen to what he said, so there was no point in even trying to stop her from going to the Digital World.  He idly wondered if Fate was trying to play a very vicious and cruel joke on him by putting him in the very situation he put Juri.

      Sera looked at Impmon in quiet thought as she mulled over everything that had happened in the past few minutes.  She sighed softly as she realized that pushing the issue any further would only hurt him.  "... Well... I've still got lots of packing to do," she began slowly, deciding that changing the topic would the wisest course of action.  "Would you mind helping me?"

      "... I guess this means you're still going," Impmon muttered.

      "Right."  Sera nodded before she leaned in closer to Impmon until their foreheads touched, blushing a bit.  "I'm staying with you, Impmon...  No matter what."

      "..."  Impmon closed his eyes, his cheeks starting to blush.  "You're stubborn."

      Sera allowed a crooked, yet slightly smug smile to appear on her face.  "Yup."

      Impmon opened an eye, grinning weakly.

      "Don't be so smug."

      Sera giggled a little in response.

**_*~*_**

      Jenrya sighed as he stood by the shrine, Terriermon on his shoulder.  He tried to appear casual, despite the hysterical snuffling of his mother and the concerned words of his father as they wished him good luck.

      Takato smiled encouragingly at his parents as he stood next to Guilmon.  His mom kept giving him hugs as she gave him a tearful goodbye, while his dad promised Guilmon all the Guilmon bread he could eat if he promised to protect Takato.

      Ruki tried to appear as cool as usual, but even she had a few tears in her eyes when her mother and grandmother hugged her goodbye.  Renamon stood quietly to the side, grinning slightly.

      Kigaru stood with his son, kneeling by and hugging him as he muttered praise and encouragement to Tsuyosa.  Tsuyosa's backpack seemed bulky, as if he had packed quite a bit, as ChibiBa clung to his right arm and Pandamon to his left.  Strapped to ChibiBa's back was a very large backpack twice the size of Tsuyosa's own, with what looked very much like a tent.  The two digimon glared at the other while nuzzling Tsuyosa's arms, disliking the other's presence but tolerating it for sake of the moment.

      Sera was the only one there without a parent or any other family member to wish her goodbye and good luck.  She held Impmon in her arms as she waited for everyone to be ready to go.  She had changed her 'walking outfit' slightly in that instead of her usual stretch pants and jean shorts, she wore just a pair of long jeans with the ends tucked into her boots.  Also her normal belt was replaced with one that had a card carrying case built into it, her fingerless gloves were gone along with her hair ornament, and she wore a pair of gold studs in her ear instead of her normal decorative earrings.

      "Be careful, guys," Hirokazu muttered as he stood by Guardromon.  "Don't worry, I'll guard the fort."

      "Good luck everybody," Kenta said, Marine Angemon sitting on his head.

      "Piiii!" Marine Angemon agreed, then suddenly got up and fluttered to each in turn, blowing them a kiss for good luck.  "PUUUU!"

      "Don't screw up, eh," Ryo smirked as he leaned towards Ruki.  "I won't be around to save you again."

      "You wish," Ruki spat, though she grinned as she said it.

      "It's about time," Yamaki grunted as he clicked his lighter.  "Are you ready?"

      "Yeah," Jenrya said as he readjusted his backpack.

      "Yeah," Tsuyosa muttered as he drew back from his father and attempted to drag the two clinging digimon.  "S-s-sort of!"

      "You know, you two are going to make it hard for Tsuyosa to move if you keep clinging like that," Takato commented, frowning at the two digimon.

      "But... but then he might try something!" ChibiBa protested.

      "Who's the one trying something!?" Pandamon barked.

      "Outsider!"

      "Opportunist!"

      "Pervert!"

      "Who's the pervert!?!"

      "YOU, pervert!"

      "YOU'RE THE PERVERT!"

      "KNOCK IT OFF!" Ruki yelled to be heard over the two bickering digimon.  "We're not going to have to listen to this the entire time are we!?"

      ChibiBa and Pandamon both squeaked, then glared at each other.

      "Now look what you did!  You made her mad!"

      "I made her mad!?  YOU made her mad!"

      "Shut up and let's go!" Ruki snapped as she turned and headed straight for Guilmon's shrine.

      "I...," Tsuyosa attempted to follow, then grit his teeth and literally dragged the two towards the shrine.

      "... We're going to have to do something about that," Impmon muttered.

      "Yeah," Sera muttered.  "You know, you two are going to make Tsuyosa pull something and hurt himself if you keep doing that," she said louder to the two digimon.

      "EEE!" both digimon instantly released Tsuyosa, horrified at such a possibility.

      Tsuyosa was unprepared for the sudden loss of weight and went fumbling forward with a squeak.

      "Wow, that actually worked," Jenrya blinked.

      "Ah!" Takato yelped then darted over to quickly catch Tsuyosa before he hit the ground.

      Tsuyosa yelped and grabbed on to Takato, then smiled weakly.

      "Thanks..."

      Pandamon and ChibiBa blinked, then glowered angrily at Takato.

      "You're welcome," Takato smiled back.

      "... Let's hurry before Ruki leaves us behind," Jenrya said quickly before a fight could break out.

      "Huh?  Okay...," Tsuyosa headed after Jenrya and Ruki, glancing back to wave at his dad.

      "Oi!  ChibiBa!" Kigaru called.  "Bite anyone who tries to hurt Tsu, okay?"

      "I'll eat their children!" ChibiBa called back, before he darted in to the shrine with Pandamon in hot pursuit.

      Takato quickly followed after the others with Guilmon walking beside him.  Sera hurried to follow as well, trailing along behind everyone else.

      "Should you encourage that?" Yamaki asked, flicking his lighter.

      "You don't have children, do you?" Kigaru replied as he watched his son and the others disappear from sight.

**_*~*_**

      "Baaaa~!"

      "What do you mean you can't find him!?  KEEP LOOKING!"

      "Baa..."

      "NYAR!"

      "BAAAA-!" Sheepmon whirled and took off, panting, as Black Tailmon bristled.

      "256."

      "Shut up...," Black Tailmon hissed as she paced.  "Aren't you even slightly worried!?  He's gone!  The boss is GONE!"

      Opossomon didn't answer, instead sighing as he poked one of his balloons listlessly and popped it.  "257," he said blandly.

      Black Tailmon paused, then sighed and collapsed to sit on the ground.  "What happened to him...?" she whimpered.  "Do you... do you think THEY did something to him!?"

      "258," Opossomon said as he popped another balloon.

      "I'll... I'll kill them!" Black Tailmon hissed as she flexed her claws.  "I'll kill them if those bastards hurt Pandamon!"

      "..."  Opossomon stared off into space as he ran out of balloons, not making any more right away to pop as he had been doing for a while.

      Suddenly he burst out crying fountains of tears, wailing like a banshee.  "THEY PROBABLY DELETED THE BOSS AND ABSORBED HIS DATA BY NOW!!!" he bawled.

      "No!" Black Tailmon covered her ears.  "They wouldn't DARE!  I'LL KILL THEM!"

      Instantly Opossomon stopped crying and leapt to his feet, snarling viciously as he all but foamed at the mouth.  "THAT FREAK!  I'LL KILL HIM!  HE'S NOT CUTER THAN ME!  NO ONE IS!!!  THE BOSS SAID SO!!!" he roared.

      "I'll rip their guts out!" Black Tailmon clawed at the ground, shaking.  "I'll... I'll spit in their eye sockets after I tear out their nasty little pupils!"

      Opossomon slumped and plopped onto the ground, kicking a cloud of dust into the air.  "..."  He stared off into space unblinkingly.

      Black Tailmon shook violently as she hissed, her tail lashing back and forth.

      With a sigh, Opossomon pulled some balloons, apparently from Black Tailmon's ear, and stared at them blandly.  "... 259," he said, his voice monotone, as he popped one of them.

      Black Tailmon paused to look at Opossomon, shakily, then gulped down air.  "He'll be fine," she whispered.  "He'll be fine.  And he's going to come back!  He promised he'd never leave... and he won't!  They can't keep him from us!"

      "260," was Black Tailmon's only response.

      "..." Black Tailmon closed her eyes, then suddenly leapt to her feet and grabbed Opossomon.  "GET UP!"

      Opossomon blinked slowly at Black Tailmon, almost uncomprehending, and not caring that his balloons slipped from his fingers and floated away.

      Black Tailmon pulled Opossomon close until they were nose to nose.  "WHAT will Pandamon think when he comes back to see us like this?  And the tent isn't even done, either!  He'll be PISSED!"

      Opossomon blinked again.  "..."  His eyes bugged out.  "AAAAH!  THE TENT'S A MESS!  HE'LL KILL US!" he squealed as he flailed his arms, his mood shifting instantly.

      "He trusted us with important work and here we are slacking off!" she continued, shakily.  "How can he ever leave us in charge again while he goes on a special mission if we can't even watch things for a couple hours!?"

      "AAAAAH!  LEGGO!  LEGGO!  WE GOTTA HURRY UP AND WORK!" Opossomon squealed as he flailed his arms so fast that they blurred.

      "Yeah!" Black Tailmon released Opossomon.  "We have to hurry before he gets back or he'll wring our necks!"

      Opossomon nodded vigorously as he pulled a bunch of balloons out of his hat and used them to float into the air.  "Let's go!  Let's go!" he yelped.

      "Nyar!" Black Tailmon darted towards the half-finished tent.

      "... 381!" Opossomon cried as he floated after Black Tailmon.

      Black Tailmon blinked, but didn't attempt to shut Opossomon up.  Instead, she sighed as her ears drooped.

      "Pandamon... please come back..."

**_*~*_**

      "This is... a LOT... different... than I pictured it..."

      "What happened...!?"

      "It looks like the sky fell."

      "Welcome to the Digital World...  AFTER the Great Destruction," Pandamon said, with flourish.

      The Digital World was almost nothing like how the returning Tamers remembered it.  Even their digimon were surprised at the sheer amount of damage there was compared to what the aftermath of the D-Reaper's attack had looked like.

      The sky was a dark shade of blue, not quite as dark as night, but too dark for normal daylight.  The Real World still hovered amidst the sky with data streams shooting outwards in all directions in an erratic manner, but it lay bare, as if the Earth would normally be seen from space, with none of the normal layers surrounding it.

      The land was barren of life, even plants, as bits of the sky stick out of the ground like daggers.

      It was impossibly silent save for the wind and the noises the group were making themselves.

      "What...," Tsuyosa stared.  "It looks so..."

      "Dead?" Pandamon offered, helpfully.

      "No, it feels so...," Tsuyosa began.

      "Lifeless?" Pandamon offered, again.

      "..."

      "... Broken," Takato whispered.

      "... Is it like this everywhere?" Ruki breathed.

      "Yes," Pandamon said, calmly.  "Though it's less severe in some areas."

      "It's horrible!" Jenrya whispered.

      "Imagine what it looked like while it was happening!" Pandamon laughed, cheerfully.  "I almost soiled myself!"

      "C-ChibiBa... did it look like this before you came to me all those years ago?" Tsuyosa asked, shakily.

      "I don't know," ChibiBa shrugged.  "I don't remember ever being in the Digital World."

      "What do you mean you don't remember?" Terriermon blinked.  "Every digimon remembers being born in Primary Village, don't they?  Or at least I do."  He glanced at the others.

      "I wasn't born in Primary Village," ChibiBa shrugged.  "My first memory is of Tsu."

      "I wasn't born in Primary Village either," Guilmon commented.  "Takato made me and I was born with him."  He then nuzzled against his partner who smiled at him.  "Tsu made you like Takato made me?"  Guilmon tilted his head at ChibiBa.

      "I don't know," ChibiBa shrugged.  "I just... appeared.  On Tsu's tenth birthday."

      "Also the anniversary of my attack," Tsuyosa muttered to himself, under his breath.

      "You've never been to the Digital World?" Renamon tilted her head.  "But all digimon were sent here after the D-Reaper was defeated, including Guilmon despite the fact that he wasn't born there."

      "I wasn't," ChibiBa shrugged.

      "Lucky," Terriermon muttered under his breath.

      "It must have something to do with the fact that you can't scan him with a D-Arc," Ruki muttered.  "It's like our D-Arcs don't recognize him as a digimon in his tiny mode...  So whatever drew you all back to the world didn't recognize him, either."

      "... Well, whatever," Impmon muttered.  "It's not like ChibiBa's natural ANYWAY!"

      "HEY!  Take that back!" ChibiBa snapped.

      Pandamon snickered.

      "Let's skip the arguing," Jenrya cut in, and then glanced at Pandamon.  "Which way to Reapermon's palace?"

      "... Let's go," Tsuyosa muttered, suddenly very solemn.  Pandamon blinked, then darted over and took Tsuyosa's hand.  Tsuyosa paused, then looked at Pandamon.

      "A smile goes a long way, Tsu-chan," Pandamon said.  "Even if you don't mean it."

      "..."

      "Don't call him Tsu-chan!" ChibiBa snapped.

      "Don't start arguing again!" Ruki snapped.  "Let's just get going!"

      "I'm not doing anything BAD!" Pandamon beamed.

      "Come on, let's go," Takato sighed, not wanting to see the two digimon start arguing again.

      "Takatomon?" Guilmon asked as he turned to look at Sera.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked as he turned as well.

      Sera stared up at the Earth curiously, apparently having ignored the entire conversation.

      "...?" Impmon blinked.

      "What is it, Sera?" Takato blinked.

      "..." Sera blinked as she realized she was being addressed.  She glanced at Takato then freed a hand to point up at the Real World.  "What're those pink beams of light?" she asked.

      "Oh.  Those are data streams," Takato explained.

      "Are they dangerous?" Sera asked.

      "No, but you don't want to get caught in one anyway.  Why?" Takato blinked.

      "... Because there're a number of them coming our way."

      "Eh?!" Takato looked up, his eyes widening as he saw numerous streams of light coming towards their location rapidly.  He whirled to the others.  "Everybody run!  Data streams are coming!"

      However, there wasn't much of a chance for anyone to react before the data streams were upon them.


	36. Delays and Distractions

Authors' Notes:  Hmm... no, I can't think of much to say this time except that this story and any and all new characters belong to us.  Don't steal them!  Also, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has ever given us a review.  We really appreciate them.  ^_^

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 26: Delays and Distractions_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      The clatter of dishes and low muttering filled the small coffee house.  People sat at the booths and at the counter, sipping their beverages and muttering to themselves or each other in low tones.  In the far corner of the coffee house, the family of the Tamers sat in a booth to themselves.  They sat rather somberly, still struggling with the fact that their children were in danger and they were helpless to do anything.

      Even Kigaru sat with them, looking quite solemn as he stared in to his coffee.  "Does it get any easier?" he muttered.

      "No... and welcome to the club," Ruki's grandmother chuckled dryly, sipping her tea.

      "If only we could've gone in their place...," Takato's mother sighed.

      "... I don't know about you, but I'd probably just get in the way," Kigaru chuckled, quietly.  "Plus, I don't think ChibiBa has much patience for me."

      "Little firecracker, isn't he?" Ruki's grandmother chuckled again.  "Seeing him made me feel slightly better about them going...  He won't let anything happen to them... and heaven help whoever tries."

      "Yeah, and besides, they came back all right the last time," Takato's father added optimistically.  "They're able to face something entire armies couldn't."

      "Heh," Kigaru chuckled quietly as he looked at his coffee again.  "I'd never have thought my son would be off saving the world.  Here I was just worried he wasn't making enough friends!"

      "I know what you mean," Ruki's mother said with a light-hearted grin.  "I didn't know what surprised me the most when I found out Ruki was a Tamer; the fact that she was one or the fact that she had made so many friends."

      Kigaru grinned lightly as he rested his coffee spoon on the edge of the cup.  He slowly tapped on the handle, tilting the spoon so that the saucer end slowly rose upwards.  The coffee caught in the saucer slowly trickled out, gurgling quietly as it slipped in to the cup.

      Kigaru released the spoon and it slipped back in to the coffee with a 'plop' and he continued the process.

      "I was beginning to think my son would never make any friends," Kigaru admitted, slowly.  "I'm more than a little relieved he has."

      "I know what you mean," Ruki's mother smiled at Kigaru.

      "Still," Kigaru looked as the spoon dropped back in to the coffee again.  "I worry."

      "I think there's no way we can't be worried," Takato's mother sighed sadly.

      "Hm," Kigaru agreed as he continued to fiddle with his spoon.

      "Are you married?" Ruki's mother asked, suddenly.

      "... More or less," Kigaru looked at his coffee, intently.

      "Oh... well...," Ruki's mother tapped her chin, scowling slightly.

      "How's your wife taking everything?" Ruki's grandmother inquired.

      "Don't know," came the almost casual reply.

      Takato's parents went very quiet, their expression very solemn.

      "She doesn't know what's going on with Tsuyosa?" Ruki's grandmother blinked.

      "She doesn't know," came the reply.  "But she wouldn't care, even if I told her."

      "What sort of attitude is that for a mother to have?!" Ruki's mother scowled, her expression a mirror image of Ruki.

      "The attitude of a mother who abandons her child."

      Ruki's mother and grandmother were taken back as the Matsudas were silent and solemn.

      "... My son... hasn't had a very easy life," Kigaru leaned back, looking at his coffee.  "... He was born rather sick... and the doctors didn't think he'd live to see his first birthday."

      "Oh dear," Ruki's grandmother breathed.  "That must have been terribly hard on the two of you."

      "... Of course, they were only partially right," Kigaru muttered as he leaned forward and lazily tapped the spoon.  "He did make it to his first birthday... and then suffered a severe attack."

      Both elder and younger Makino women were quiet as they waited for Kigaru to continue.

      "... By all medical terms, he died," Kigaru muttered.  "... But somehow they managed to save him.  I don't know how... but it was a miracle.  One second his heart stopped, the next it was beating again.  I'll probably never know how or why it happened."

      "You must have been so happy," Ruki's grandmother said, tenderly.  "A true miracle."

      "... I thought so, but his mother didn't," Kigaru replied, casually.  "She felt that she couldn't deal with it anymore... deal with him.  She didn't want to go through the stress of raising a sick child that could die on her.  She just didn't want to try.  She didn't want to struggle through a repeat of the attack."  He paused, and then chuckled darkly.  The sound itself seemed to contradict his entire demeanor.

      "She came back once, you know," Kigaru muttered.  "When Tsu was about seven... she came back to see if we could patch things up... saw that Tsu was still alive... and left."

      Takato's parents said nothing, obviously having known about the situation beforehand.

      "Pardon my language, but your wife sounds like a complete bitch," Ruki's mother scowled.

      Kigaru chuckled quietly, then shrugged.  "I could never understand why she felt that way... but she did.  And so she left.  I raised my son by myself, without her.  I haven't seen her ever since then, in fact, and I'm not particularly interested in ever seeing her again."

      Kigaru's expression darkened.  "I can't forgive her for putting our son through that...  She obviously wasn't the woman I thought she was when I fell in love with her."

      "Well," Ruki's grandmother straightened up to look at Kigaru.  "I think you've done a wonderful job."

      "Thanks," Kigaru grinned, his boyish features once again cheerful.

      "I think you're wife must have been blind to have given you and Tsuyosa up," Ruki's mother smiled at Kigaru.

      Kigaru blinked, then blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his head.  "Heh, well..."

      "... They'll be fine," Takato's dad said, suddenly.  "They'll all be fine.  They came back the first time... they'll come back this time."

      "Yes, of course they will," Ruki's grandmother smiled as she calmly sipped her tea.

      "I just hope Ruki doesn't bring any more boys home with her, this time," Ruki's mother added, wryly.

      The other adults burst out laughing.

**_*~*_**

      The first thing Takato noticed when he awakened was that it was raining.  He coughed and shot upwards instantly as rain had filled his nose and caused quite an unpleasant drowning sensation.  The rain poured down on him as the ground itself was permanently under a few inches of water.  He wiped his nose violently to rid himself of both the water and the feeling before he glanced around.  The rocks were completely wet and even the scattered plant life about him looked choked and almost drowned.  He seemed almost entirely alone, save for a hunched lump nearby.  It was almost completely submerged, clothes dripping wet and oozing with water.

      Takato blinked and quickly crawled over to the lump, grimacing at the feeling of mud and water clinging to his clothes.  Silently he tried to concentrate on believing that he was dry and clean, as that had worked the last time when he, Jenrya, and Terriermon had to swim and breathe underwater.

      The lump was in fact Tsuyosa, who looked unconscious and dripping wet.

      Takato's eyes widened before he reached over to try and gently shake Tsuyosa awake.  "Tsuyosa, wake up," Takato called.

      Tsuyosa grimaced as his eyes slowly fluttered open. He blinked slowly and peered up at Takato, dazed.

      "Are you okay?" Takato asked, concerned.

      "... I'm wet," he muttered in response.

      Takato blinked then chuckled slightly at the statement of the obvious.  "Well, yeah," he said.  "But other than that?"

      "Just a little disoriented...," Tsuyosa replied.  "I think I hit my head..."

      "Uh oh," Takato muttered, eyes widening slightly.  "Are you going to be okay enough to stand up?"

      "I think so...," Tsuyosa muttered.  "It's probably just a small bump, anyway..."

      "That's good," Takato sighed in relief.  Slowly he tried to climb to his feet, slipping around in the mud as he did so.  He yelped as he nearly fell over a few times, but managed to get to his feet.  He noticed, with some triumph and annoyance, that while his clothes were still soaked, they didn't get stained with the mud.  He decided that maybe he had to concentrate harder on believing that he was dry as well.

      Tsuyosa slowly fumbled up, covered in mud and water, and looked at his backpack.  "At least everything inside it should be dry," he muttered.

      "That's good," Takato repeated with another sigh.  He then glanced around, hoping to catch sight of the others.

      "Where's ChibiBa?" Tsuyosa asked suddenly, eyes widening.

      "I don't see him," Takato frowned.  "Or Guilmon, or any of the others."

      "Those... data streams, or whatever they were, must have separated us," Tsuyosa muttered, starting to shake.

      "Not again," Takato moaned as he rubbed his forehead.  "I hate those things."

      "Happened before?" Tsuyosa asked, trying to hide the fact that he was shaking rather badly.

      "Yeah...  Last time we came to the Digital World, we kept getting separated by the data streams," Takato sighed.

      "Well...," Tsuyosa closed his eyes as a rather violent shiver surged through him.  "... We'll just have to find them..."

      "Are you okay?" Takato asked as he noticed the shiver.

      "... Yes...," Tsuyosa replied, slowly.  "Just... a little cold."

      "Oh, well, believe you're not cold, wet, and muddy and you probably won't be," Takato said as he concentrated on not feeling that way himself.  "The Digital World runs on what we believe and if we concentrate enough we can change things.  Last time we were here we were able to breathe underwater and not get wet by doing that."

      "... Feels pretty real to me," Tsuyosa muttered.

      Takato rubbed his arms, which still felt a bit damp despite his concentrating.  "Well... yeah," he muttered.  "I know it's hard, but it really works."

      "..."  Tsuyosa closed his eyes as he shivered.

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa with concern.  "... How about we find some shelter from the rain?  It might be easier to concentrate that way."

      "..." Tsuyosa opened his eyes.  "I'm fine...  I mean, we've just started..."

      "But you hit your head..."

      "... Look," Tsuyosa muttered.  "How can I be any help to anyone if I fall apart already?"

      "You won't be any help anyway if you keep going when you're injured," Takato pointed out.

      "But isn't it a bit obscene to get hurt so soon?"

      "It doesn't matter.  Your health is important right now."

      "..."

      "Come on," Takato said gently as he took Tsuyosa's hand.  "Let's get going before the rain makes us catch a cold or something."

      "...  ... Alright..." Tsuyosa looked at the ground.

      Takato gently lead Tsuyosa off as they trudged through the muddy water, searching for some sort of shelter from the rain.

      Thunder rumbled as the two walked, the sky dumping rain down upon them relentlessly.  Mountains surrounded them, thick with water and soaked vegetation, as the ground turned out to be a path through the winding and treacherous landscape.

      However, some luck was with the two as, eventually, a small cave came in to view.  It was shielded from the rain, dark but dry inside as it sloped upwards a bit just above the water's edge.

      "Look, a cave!" Takato smiled as they headed towards it.

      "... That's good...," came the monotone mutter.

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato asked as he glanced back at the other Tamer.

      "... I'm useless, aren't I?" Tsuyosa muttered, looking at the ground.  "The only reason everyone wanted me to come was because of ChibiBa."

      "No, you're not useless," Takato frowned.  "We needed you to come.  You're the only one that could possibly keep Pandamon in line."

      "But that's where it ends," Tsuyosa muttered.  "I don't have any uses except to keep Pandamon in line and because ChibiBa wouldn't go without me. All I do is hold everyone up."

      "No you don't," Takato said firmly.  "You're as useful as everyone else, Tsuyosa."

      "How?"

      "Well... you are the current champion to the Digimon card game tournament," Takato pointed out.  "You know a lot about digimon and that'd help us out a lot here."

      "... I would have lost to Ruki."

      "You don't know that for sure," Takato pointed out.  "Even if you did, I'm sure she would've had to have had a hard fight to do it."

      "... Maybe..."

      "You're definitely better than I am," Takato laughed nervously.  "I'd never even get past the first round of the tournament if I entered it."

      "You shouldn't say things like that," Tsuyosa pointed out.  "You could if you tried."

      "Neither should you," Takato returned, smiling wryly.

      "..." Tsuyosa blinked, then snickered slightly.  "You set me up."

      "Yep!" Takato chuckled as he smirked.

      "I lost that round," Tsuyosa stuck out his tongue.  "But I'll win the next one!"

      "Yeah, right," Takato laughed.  "We'll just see about that!"

      Tsuyosa's response was a sneeze.

      Instantly Takato stopped laughing.  "Uh oh...  Don't tell me you're catching a cold..."

      "No," Tsuyosa replied quickly as he wiped at his nose.  "Just some of my hair tickled my nose."

      "... We'll, let's hurry and get in the cave anyway," Takato commented, unable to help but feel worried about his friend's health.  "We're almost there."

      "Okay," Tsuyosa agreed.

      They picked up the pace to go as fast as the slippery terrain would allow them.  As they neared the cave, Tsuyosa paused to stare inside it.

      "Can you... see how far back it goes?" he asked, shakily.

      "Nope...," Takato shook his head.  "But it can't be any worse than out here, can it?"

      "You'd be surprised," Tsuyosa replied.  "There could be digimon inside."

      "... Well... yeah," Takato admitted.  "But we can't stay out here..."

      "... Yeah...," Tsuyosa muttered as he slowly slipped inside the cave.  Takato walked a little bit ahead of him, feeling the need to protect the other boy.

      As the two walked further in, they were rather pleasantly surprised to find that the cave did not go back very far and was completely empty.

      "We lucked out," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.

      "Yeah," Tsuyosa smiled back.

      With a sigh Takato sat down onto the ground and leaned against the cave wall.  "How about we wait here until the rain stops?" he suggested.  "If we're dry by then, then we can go look for the others."

      "Sounds like a plan," Tsuyosa agreed as he knelt in the middle of the cave and fiddled with his backpack.  He opened it up and pulled out what looked suspiciously like a small log wrapped in paper.

      Takato blinked at the paper-wrapped object.  "What's that?" he blinked.

      "Er, my dad thought it'd help...," Tsuyosa muttered as he reached in to his pack and pulled out a box of matches.  "... He said it might get cold."

      "Looks like he was right," Takato smirked.

      "Yeah," Tsuyosa snickered as he struck a match and put it to the log.  The log sizzled quietly for a moment before it easily started to burn.  It cast a soft glow on to the cave, illuminating it.  "I have a couple more in my backpack...  They're made to light easily."

      "That's great!"  Takato smiled and scooted in closer to the log to get warmed up.

      Tsuyosa blushed lightly as he carefully sat down by the burning log, his eyes locked on the flames as they flickered.  "... The others... should be okay, right?"

      "Yeah," Takato smiled in an assuring manner at Tsuyosa.  "I'm sure they're fine."  He then chuckled quietly.  "Although I bet ChibiBa and Pandamon aren't too happy right now."

      "Why is Pandamon so obsessed with me, anyway?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "I'm not sure," Takato shrugged.  "I think..."  He trailed off and shook his head.  "Nah, that couldn't be it," he muttered.  Tsuyosa blinked at Takato, then looked at the fire.

      "... ... I don't get it, though...," Tsuyosa muttered.  "It's not like I'm that big a deal," he added, very quietly with hopes that Takato wouldn't hear him.

      "Yes you are, Tsuyosa," Takato said firmly as he stared intently at Tsuyosa.  "You shouldn't keep putting yourself down.  You're a very special person, and if anyone can't see that because of your health or because of what happened to you in the past, then they're just dumb."

      "..." Tsuyosa refused to look at Takato.  "... My mother didn't feel that way."

      "Then she's just dumb," Takato crossed his arms.

      "..." Tsuyosa shook his head.  "Who knows?  Maybe she had a good reason."

      "Yeah, that she's dumb."

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then started to snicker.  Takato smirked and snickered along with Tsuyosa.

      "I guess I lost that round too," Tsuyosa stuck out his tongue again.

      "Yep!" Takato smirked and stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

**_*~*_**

      "Oooh!  This shade of pink is so sparkly and pretty on you, My Lady Queen!"

      "Oh!  How it SHIMMERS!"

      "Rawr!"

      Lopmon stared tensely at Shuichon as smiled brightly and she painted the black-clawed hand's deadly claws.  One wrong move and her Tamer would be cut or worse.

      Shuichon didn't seem too worried about that fact, however.  "Next we'll add some sparkly pink bunny stickers!" she cheered.

      "Bunnies!  BUNNIES!" the Leomon puppet wiggled it's tiny 'paws' as it hovered in the darkness.

      Lopmon twitched slightly as she worried over her Tamer's safety and silently prayed to Zhuqiaomon that the others would be there for them soon.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon noticed something was amiss when he realized he was very cold.  He then further realized something was wrong when he noticed he was falling through the air at a rapid pace.

      "Eh-?" Impmon opened his eyes and glanced around, weakly.

      Impmon paled drastically.

      He was several hundred feet above the ground, plummeting towards it.  However, the ground in question looked to be nothing more than ice.

      Impmon then noticed he wasn't alone.

      "... Nng...," Sera moaned as her eyes fluttered open.  She was a few yards away from Impmon, her body having been turned almost completely upside-down during the fall.  She stared uncomprehendingly up at the sky, not yet aware of the fact that they were falling.

      "S-Sera!" Impmon gasped, then coughed raggedly as he inhaled icy cold air.

      "I-Impmon?" Sera blinked as she turned towards Impmon, then couldn't help but tense and cough from the temperature.  "What's...?"

      "DON'T LOOK DOWN!" Impmon flailed.

      "A-ah?" Sera blinked, eyes widening as she realized what was happening.  She couldn't help herself, and she looked down, or rather upwards from her perspective.  "A-AH!  WE'RE FALLING!!"

      "I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK DOWN!" Impmon shrieked.

      "I wasn't looking down!  I was looking up!" Sera protested, panic evident in her voice.  "I'm upside-down!"

      "D-don't worry!" Impmon flailed his arms in an attempt to get closer to Sera.

      Sera saw this and tried to get closer to Impmon and right herself at the same time.  "W-what do we do?!" she asked, now falling sideways.

      "..." Impmon looked down, then paled again.  "... You can swim, right?"

      Sera didn't have time to respond as the ground came rushing up to meet them.

      The ice shattered upon impact, the sound similar to the breaking of glass.  Strangely the impact didn't seem to injure either of them, but neither complained about that fact.  They plummeted into the freezing water with a large splash; the temperature even colder than the air was when they were falling.

      Impmon let out a gurgle of protest, then shivered and looked around wildly for Sera.

      Sera couldn't help but cry out in shock and some pain at the sudden burst of extreme cold, inadvertently releasing the air she was holding.  Her eyes widened and she clamped her hand over her mouth and nose in a futile attempt to keep what was left of the remaining air within her lungs.  She struggled to fight the downward motion, her legs and free arm beating wildly against the water.

      Impmon gurgled and swam over to Sera, surprisingly coherent despite the fall, and grabbed her.  He surged upwards with her, heading for the crack in the ice.

      Sera clung to Impmon's hand tightly as she swam with him as quickly as she could, trying not to panic despite the fact that there were dark spots in front of her vision from the lack of air.

      Impmon let out a shuddering gasp as he hefted Sera and himself up out of the water.

      Sera coughed harshly as her body racked with tremors from the cold.  "T-t-th-th-thanks... I-I-Im-Imp-Impmon," she rasped, the cold causing her voice to stutter, once she had mostly recovered from half-drowning.

      Impmon grunted in response as he pulled himself and Sera out of the chilled water on to the ice itself.

      "We've g-got to find somewhere to w-warm up!" Impmon grunted.

      Sera nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself and curled up slightly.  "W-w-wh-where?" she shivered.

      Suddenly, a strong pair of arms wrapped around Sera and hefted her upwards.

      Beelzebumon glanced around as he held Sera close, trying to keep her warm.  "Let's go find something."

      Sera nodded shakily as she snuggled closer to Beelzebumon in an effort to get warmer, too cold to feel embarrassed in the presence of the large Mega like the last time he evolved.

      Beelzebumon spread his large feathered wings and surged upwards, tail lashing behind him as he took flight.  He hissed almost immediately as he felt the cold air bite at his face, his arms instinctively pulling Sera closer.

      Sera couldn't help but tremble more violently in Beelzebumon's arms, the water soaking her starting to turn into ice.  She buried her face against his chest as she clung to him tightly, her hands clutching his wet clothing in a death grip.

      Beelzebumon set his jaw as he tried to fly as quickly as possible without chilling Sera further.  He looked around desperately, his own body starting to shiver.

      That was when Beelzebumon noticed a small building in the snow.  It looked like an igloo with a door and what looked suspiciously like a small chimney.

      Beelzebumon blinked, then dove downwards towards the igloo.  He landed with a grunt in the snow, pleased to note the ground was solid as opposed to the ice, and strode towards the igloo.  Without even bothering to knock, Beelzebumon kicked the igloo door open and slipped inside.

      The igloo was surprisingly warm and comfortable inside, with a small table decorated with a checkered tablecloth and a furnace in the corner that spit smoke up the small chimney.  Beelzebumon blinked and closed the door behind him, setting Sera down near the furnace.

      "No one's home," Beelzebumon observed.

      Sera nodded, her trembling slowing slightly in the presence of the warm heater.  When she was warm enough to think more easily she glanced around at their surroundings.  "... An igloo... with a heater inside of it...?" she blinked slowly.  "... Not that I'm complaining..."

      "Why not?" Beelzebumon asked, glancing over his shoulder.  "It gets cold in igloos, too."

      Sera blinked and slowly shook her head.  "That's... not what I meant," she muttered.

      "Then what did you mean?" Beelzebumon asked as he explored the small igloo, checking out the big, fluffy, and neatly made bed in the far corner.

      Sera opened her mouth to explain, but then shut it, deciding it wasn't that important.  "Never mind," she shook her head.  "I'll explain later..."

      "Well," Beelzebumon sat down by Sera, fiddling to slip his leather jacket off as it clung to his body.  "Just remember, toots... this is the Digital World.  Just 'cuz it's not possible in the Real World doesn't mean it ain't possible here."

      "I guess I should've realized that...," Sera said before she trailed off as she glanced at Beelzebumon.  Her face became flushed, not just because of the cold, and she quickly looked back at the heater.

      Beelzebumon paused and blinked at Sera, idly wondering why she was acting so strangely before shrugging and cracking his neck.  "Yep."

      Sera made sure to keep her gaze onto the heater and away from Beelzebumon, her face flushed.  While they were outside she was too preoccupied with how freezing she was to really pay attention to him, but now that she was starting to get warm she was able to really notice her incredibly sexy partner.

      Sera felt more than a little intimidated whenever Impmon evolved into Beelzebumon.  He was just so cool and handsome that she felt flustered whenever she was around him, particularly when they were close together with nothing to distract from the situation.

      The fact that she was in love with him didn't help matters either.

      However, Beelzebumon was totally oblivious to Sera's plight as he scooted closer to the heater to get warm.

      "Gyah, why does it hafta be snow?" he grunted.

      Sera blushed even more as she became aware of how close they were, their bodies scant centimeters from touching one another.  She swallowed thickly and tried to concentrate on getting warm instead of her partner.

      "... Just our luck I guess...," she muttered.

      "Guess so," Beelzebumon agreed.  "Whatcha gonna do, eh?"

      Sera was unable to answer as she suddenly sneezed.

      "Eh?" Beelzebumon blinked.

      "C-cold...," Sera muttered as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.  While being inside and next to the heater was helping her warm up a little, the fact that she was still completely soaked still made her feel very cold.

      "... Er...," Beelzebumon coughed.  "Maybe you should change."

      "Y-yeah...," Sera nodded as she slipped off her backpack and jacket, both items dropping to the floor with wet plopping noises.

      Beelzebumon's eyes bugged out as he noticed that Sera's dripping white t-shirt was very white.  So white, in fact, that the water made it near transparent.

      With a choked squeak, Beelzebumon whirled about so that his back was to Sera and covered his nose with both hands.

      "E-eh?" Sera blinked at Beelzebumon, not realizing how much her t-shirt revealed.

      "Errr, um... I'll just stare at the wall while you change," Beelzebumon coughed.

      "O-oh... O-okay...," Sera blushed, realizing that she was starting to strip in front of someone she was extremely attracted to; in love with in fact.  Even if that person was a digimon who probably didn't feel the same way about her.  "T-th-thank you."

      "No... problem..."

**_*~*_**

      "1,698."

      "... Nyar..."

      Opossomon listlessly popped another balloon.  "1,699," he muttered.

      "..." Black Tailmon leaned back, sighing.  "... He's taking his time getting back, isn't he?  They better not be holding him hostage."

      "1,700," Opossomon responded, popping another balloon.  He sighed heavily as he had popped all the balloons he was currently holding and slumped.  "Pandamon..."

      "..."

      "Baaaaa...," Sheepmon sobbed quietly, curled up in a corner.

      "... He's going to come back!" Black Tailmon snapped.

      "When?" Opossomon asked quietly, sounding surprisingly coherent.

      "Any time!" Black Tailmon replied.  "I mean, he always comes back.  Why wouldn't he come back this time!?"

      "Black WarGreymon," Opossomon said flatly.

      "... ..." Black Tailmon twitched.  "If that little mutant bastard hurt Pandamon in ANY way, I'll rip his throat out with my teeth."

      "Baaa!" Sheepmon agreed.

      "... No, somehow I don't think you'd be able to gut him with a fork, nyar."

      "Can I shove a Mad Balloon Bomb up his butt first?" Opossomon asked, his tone suddenly sounding quite scary and demented in an oddly cute way.

      "Nyar, of course!" Black Tailmon replied.

      "YAY!" Opossomon cheered happily as he clapped his hands together.

      "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"

      "Nyar!?" Black Tailmon tensed and looked around, surprised.

      "Oro?" Opossomon blinked as he looked around too.

      "BAA!?" Sheepmon looked straight upwards.

      "I'M GONNA DIE I'M GONNA DIE I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

      "Oro?" Opossomon looked upwards before his eyes bugged out.

      Plummeting downwards was none other than a very hysterical Pandamon.  He waved his paws as his scarf whipped about in the air, screaming as loud as he could.

      "P-PANDAMON!?" Black Tailmon leapt to her feet, eyes wide.

      "BOSS!" Opossomon cried happily.

      "HELPMEHELPMEHELP-"

      WHAM!

      Pandamon twitched violently as he created a small crater in the ground, making gurgling noises.

      "-Meeee...?"

      "Baaa~," Sheepmon bleated, blinking repeatedly.

      "Pandamon-!" Black Tailmon began, then stared as two other figures appeared in to view.

      Jenrya and Ruki fell down from the sky, screaming, before they landed on Pandamon with a pained yelp and bounced upwards out of the crater as if they had landed on a trampoline.  Both humans were surprisingly okay, as Pandamon had apparently taken most of the force out of their fall as he moaned in agony.

      "BOSS!" Opossomon flailed as he ran over to the fallen Ultimate.

      "Pain... pain... pain..." Pandamon twitched.

      "BOSS!" Black Tailmon yowled as she darted over and leapt in to the crater, landing by Pandamon.

      "Baaa~!" Sheepmon yelped fearfully and started running in circles due to panic.

      "Black... Tailmon...?  ... Opo-... Opossomon?" Pandamon muttered, weakly.

      Opossomon squealed as he hopped into the crater after Black Tailmon.  "BOSS!" he cried happily as he glomped onto Pandamon.

      "Eeee," Pandamon whimpered, pained.

      "He's hurt!" Black Tailmon yelped as she knelt by the Ultimate.  "Oh... oh... are things broken!?"

      "Boss!" Opossomon yelped as he jumped back from Pandamon.  "MEDIC!  WE NEED A MEDIC!"

      "Uh... Renamon?"

      Black Tailmon tensed, her eyes widening.

      "Terriermon?"

      Opossomon's eyes widened then narrowed into slits.

      "... Jenrya?  Where are we?" Ruki looked around as she stood up, shakily.  "Where are the others?"

      "I don't know...," Jenrya muttered as he slowly stood up as well.  He looked around slowly, his eyes widening as he realized that none of their friends were around.  "... Oh no...  We must have gotten separated!"

      "BAAAA~!" Sheepmon flailed from nearby the two Tamers, eyes bugged out as it stared at them.

      "..." Black Tailmon turned to look at Opossomon, her expression extremely vicious.

      "Eeeee... I think... I'll... take a nap now...," Pandamon moaned before his eyes rolled in to the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.

      "..." Opossomon looked at Pandamon before he turned slowly and met Black Tailmon's gaze.

      "..." Black Tailmon's cheek twitched visibly.

      "..."  Opossomon glowered as he pulled out a bunch of balloons from the inside of his glove.  "Let's get them," he hissed.

      "..."  Suddenly, a wicked grin crossed Black Tailmon's face.  "I have a better idea."

      Opossomon blinked.

      Black Tailmon leaned close and whispered in to Opossomon's ear, her expression like a shark's before a fish feeding frenzy.

      Opossomon blinked slowly before his expression grew quite demented.

      "Oooh... I like that idea."


	37. Separation Anxiety

Authors' Notes:  After so many authors' notes it's hard to figure out what else to say here.  So I'll just restate that this story is ours as well as any and all new characters we add into it.  No stealing!

      Also, we're back to dividing the chapters again!  Which means everyone can have his or her daily-recommended supply of boy/boy love.  Aren't you so happy?  ^_^

      Of course it's your choice to see it or not, so in case you don't want to see it, you'd better run away screaming to the yaoi-free section.  In case you missed seeing which chapter has the (Yaoi-Free) symbol at the top, this is the one without it, which means you're in flava country baby!  It's aaaaall uncensored here, so if you don't like it you better hurry and get to the censored version.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 27: Separation Anxiety_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "And then... he said that..."

      "Oh, that CAD."

      "Uh huh...  Boys are icky!"

      "So VERY icky!  ICKY!  ICKY!  ICKY!"

      "Rawr!"

      Lopmon sighed to herself, wondering what was taking everybody so long.

      Shuichon sat on a large pink sleeping bag with a big white unicorn on it, wearing a matching pink nightgown that had been stolen by the mysterious claw's minions.  The mysterious beast itself sat on a soft purple sleeping bag with a fuzzy pink bunny on it, wearing a matching nightgown as well.  The Leomon puppet wore a soft green nightgown, wiggling its head happily as it danced about.  While Lopmon herself wore an oversized pink nightgown which matched Shuichon's, and sat on a sleeping bag with a princess in a sparkling pink gown among a fantasy setting.

      The four of them, including the puppet, were having a 'girl's sleepover'.

      The first hour was spent eating tons of ice cream and talking about My Little Horsies.  The second hour was spent giggling insanely over hot cocoa as they watched the Care Bunnies on a large television set, also stolen by the monster's minions.  Now they were on the third hour, which was dedicated to reading girly magazines and gossiping about boys.

      Regardless of the fact that Lopmon suspected the mysterious claw was, in fact, a boy.

      "And... and... GUESS WHAT!"

      "What?"

      "Rawr?"

      "A boy tried to kiss me in kindergarten once!"

      "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!" the two 'girls' squealed as the puppet made retching noises.

      Lopmon blinked, then sighed again.  She really, really hoped the others arrived soon.

**_*~*_**

      "Someone... is going to have their children eaten."

      "Who?" Guilmon blinked innocently at ChibiBa.

      "Whoever separated me from Tsu," ChibiBa replied as he tromped through the rolling waves of dead or dying grass.  "I'm going to eat their children."

      The two wandered through a huge plain of waving golden brown grass, which was like a sea with no end.

      "Why?" Guilmon blinked.  "Are they children made of bread?"

      "No," ChibiBa replied.  "But they did this on purpose, so I'm going to make them suffer."

      "Oh?  Why eat them if they not made of bread?" Guilmon tilted his head.  "Do they have peanut butter?"

      "No," ChibiBa glanced at Guilmon.  "Because I want them to suffer for tearing me and Tsu apart."

      "Ohhh...," Guilmon nodded slowly, somewhat comprehending.  "You mean data streams?"

      "..."  ChibiBa decided to just drop the subject as he tromped along, almost invisible among the grass.

      "How do you eat data streams?" Guilmon blinked, tilting his head slightly.  "They all glowy and grabby and stuff."

      "You don't eat the streams," ChibiBa retorted.  "You eat the person responsible for them."

      "Ohhh..."  Guilmon nodded slowly.  "How you gonna eat all the Real World?  'Cause that's where they come from."

      "... But someone has to be RESPONSIBLE for it!" ChibiBa explained.  "SOMEONE made them happen!"

      "Ohh...  Who?"

      "Whoever it is.  I don't know...  That's why I'm going to find them," ChibiBa growled, starting to get irritated.

      "How?" Guilmon blinked.

      "... I'll think of a way," ChibiBa replied.

      "Oh, okay."

      "Anyway," ChibiBa sniffed, disdainfully.  "I can only hope poor Tsu isn't stuck with Pandamon or-"  ChibiBa debated mentioning Guilmon's Tamer but decidedly held his tongue.

      "Pandamon's weird," Guilmon commented, not noticing the 'or'.

      "Yeah, well," ChibiBa growled.  "I'll kick his butt if he tries anything!"

      "Renamon and Terriermon'll protect them so you no have to worry," Guilmon said cheerfully.

      "Bah," ChibiBa growled.  "I doubt it.  They can barely protect themselves.  If you all saved the world, it must have been by the skin of your teeth.  You're so out of shape it's not funny!"

      "Huh?" Guilmon blinked at ChibiBa.  "What do you mean?"

      ChibiBa twirled on his heel and poked Guilmon in the stomach.  "You're all blubber!" ChibiBa grunted.  "Do you even train?"

      "Hey, that tickles!" Guilmon giggled as he was poked.

      "You barely have any muscle at all," ChibiBa pointed out as he poked Guilmon's stomach, then reared back and flexed.  "Look at me!  PURE muscle!"

      Guilmon couldn't reply as he was too busy wiggling and laughing.  "Hey!  Hey!  I ticklish there!" he giggled.  ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

      "How can you expect to protect Takato if you've got so much fat?" ChibiBa asked.

      Guilmon finally stopped laughing once ChibiBa had stopped poking him.  "Huh?" Guilmon blinked at the mention of his Tamer.

      "... Do you know what fat is?" ChibiBa asked.

      Guilmon shook his head.

      "... This is fat!" ChibiBa grabbed Guilmon's arm and pinched it lightly, wiggling the fatty area of his arm.  "It's bad.  It weighs you down... makes you slow and lose energy very fast."

      "It's like having big heavy weights attached to your body," ChibiBa continued as he let go.  "It's all sloshy and icky."

      "Ohhhhh...," Guilmon blinked at his arm and started wiggling the fatty area.  "I no knew I could do that!"

      "It's a bad thing," ChibiBa muttered.  "It means you're out of shape... which can easily get you deleted if you meet an opponent who's very strong."

      Guilmon blinked at ChibiBa.  "That IS bad," he observed.  "How I make it stop?"

      "You train," ChibiBa replied as he cracked his neck, idly.  "If you train, you can turn that fat in to muscles... and you'll be very strong.  Like me."

      "Oh!  I train before!" Guilmon said happily.  "It was fun!"

      "Well, you need to train a lot!" ChibiBa replied.  "The more you do, the stronger you'll be!"

      "Okay!  So where we find a train?" Guilmon asked, excited.

      "..."  ChibiBa stared at Guilmon, then slapped his forehead.  "NO!  NOT THAT KIND OF TRAIN!"

      "Huh?" Guilmon blinked.  "What other type train is there?"

      "The ACTION of training," ChibiBa sighed, then blinked and tapped his chin.  "I guess I could show you... train you a little.  I mean, I am very qualified."

      Guilmon tilted his head curiously, paying rapt attention to ChibiBa.

      "... Alright, I guess that settles it," ChibiBa nodded, sharply.  "You're going to be one buff dino digimon when I'm done with you!"

      "Ooooh?  Is buff another word for puff, like cream puffs?" Guilmon asked as he tilted his head.  "I like cream puffs!"

      "..." ChibiBa twitched, then sighed.  "No, it means STRONG!  Like ME!  I'm BUFF!"  He flexed to prove his point, his muscles very visible around his armor.

      "Ooooh!  Does buff mean short and black?"

      "... No," ChibiBa growled.  "It means... I'm going to work your butt off!"

      "Aaah!  No!" Guilmon yelped as he grabbed his butt with his claws.  "I need my butt!  It holds my tail up!"

      "... ..."  ChibiBa twitched very violently, then took a few deep breaths before he fixed Guilmon with a gaze.  "Let's start your training while we look for Tsu..."  He paused, then growled.  "... And the others," he added.

      ChibiBa turned and pointed far ahead of them.  "We're going to race to that point.  Run as fast as you can and try to beat me to that point.  Got it?"

      "Yeah!"  Guilmon then blinked and paused as he tilted his head.  "This mean I can keep my butt?"

      "... Yes.  You can keep your butt."

      "YAY!"

**_*~*_**

      "Ruki!"

      "Jeeeeen!"

      Renamon walked slowly through the forest, which was surprisingly green.  Unlike the rest of the Digital World, the forest was still alive and thriving.  It was most likely one of the few places that wasn't badly damaged by the Great Destruction that Pandamon had spoken of, which gave the two a little sense of hope that things could still be salvaged.

      Terriermon walked quickly to keep up with Renamon, his stride much shorter than the fox digimon's because of their size differences.

      "RUKI!" Renamon called again, her ears pricked for any response.

      "JEEEEEEN!" Terriermon yelled, cupping his mouth to try to make his voice carry further.  He looked around, frowning, as there was no sign of either of their partners or the rest of their friends.  "Stupid data streams," he muttered.  "They're a big pain in the butt!"

      "We have to find them," Renamon muttered.  "They could fall victim to any digimon they come across."

      Terriermon nodded sharply, frowning.  "I just hope the others are with Jen and Ruki...  They could protect 'em until we find them at least," he muttered.

      "... And Pandamon better not try any double-crosses," Renamon added as she jumped over a fallen tree rather easily.

      "If he does, we'll kick his butt!" Terriermon grunted as he hopped onto the log and then off it as he continued following Renamon.

      "RUKI!" Renamon called again as she continued walking.

      "JEEEEN!" Terriermon yelled as he looked around some more.

      "Oi, oi!  What's with all the yelling about here now?"

      "Hm?" Renamon paused and glanced around.

      "Who's there?!" Terriermon called.

      "Oi, such rudeness!  The young have no respect for their elders!"

      "Ain't that the truth."

      "Jijimon?  Babamon?" Renamon blinked.

      Almost as if summoned by the mention of their names, Jijimon and Babamon flew down to the ground on their staff and broom respectively, landing in front of Renamon and Terriermon.  "Long time no see, Renamon," Babamon smiled brightly.

      "It is good to see you," Renamon smiled, slightly.

      "Oi, you never call, you never write," Jijimon shook his head.  "Oi, we'd like to hear a little word from a friend now and again you know!"

      "Oi, that's no way to talk to an old friend you, old coot," Babamon glanced at Jijimon.  She then looked at Renamon.  "It's great to see ya again!"

      "Old coot am I?" Jijimon said as he lifted his staff.  "Sounds like fightin' words to me!"

      "Excuse me," Renamon interrupted before the two could start quarreling.  "But why are you here, so far from home?"

      "Friends of yours?" Terriermon asked Renamon as he eyed Jijimon and Babamon as they hefted their respective objects menacingly at each other.

      "Yes," Renamon replied.  "They helped Ruki and I back when we came to save Culumon."

      "Ah, well after the D-Reaper came trouncing about and deleting most of the Digital World, our home got smashed up too," Babamon explained as she lowered her broom.

      "So when we came back home there was no home to go to," Jijimon added, lowering his staff as well.

      "I see," Renamon said.  "That is unfortunate...  I am sorry."

      "Bah!  That old place was too dusty anyway," Babamon said as she waved her hand dismissively.  "We've got a new place now here and it's great!"

      "Great?  Try saying that when pollen season comes around!  My hay-fever's murder!" Jijimon griped.

      "..." Renamon tilted her head.  "... Jijimon?  Babamon?  Might I ask you a question?"

      "Go ahead, dear," Babamon said as she leaned on her broom.

      "What can you tell me of the Great Destruction?" Renamon asked.  "A digimon by the name of Pandamon mentioned it."

      "The Great Destruction...," Jijimon breathed, his voice quiet.

      "Oh, it was terrible!" Babamon sighed as she shook her head.  "So many poor digimon got all squished!"

      "We were going to visit Elecmon at Primary Village at the time," Jijimon added.  "Oi...  It was horrible I tell ya!"

      "Oi, it was so backed up, poor Elecmon could barely catch a break!" Babamon shook her head.

      "The waiting list to be reborn was longer than the hairs in Babamon's nose, lemmie tell ya," Jijimon commented.

      "Hey!  My nose hairs are shorter than yours!" Babamon glared at her husband.

      "Oi, is that why you braid them every night before you go to sleep?" Jijimon glared back as he hefted his staff menacingly.

      "..."  Terriermon eyed the couple and then glanced at Renamon.  "Are they always like this?" he whispered.

      Renamon nodded slightly, then coughed.

      "Please," Renamon said.  "What happened...?  Was Primary Village destroyed?"

      The pair of Megas lowered their implements of destruction and returned their attention to the two Rookies.  "Oh yeah, it went all squish!" Jijimon said as he made motions as if flattening something between his hands.  "It was horrible!"

      "... Even the digieggs?" Renamon asked, her voice quiet.  "Those newly reborn?"

      The two old Megas were silent as they nodded, their expressions solemn.

      "Not all of them," Babamon added.  "We saved some with Elecmon, but there were just too many and the Great Destruction happened too fast!"

      "... I see," Renamon closed her eyes.  "Pandamon did not exaggerate, then..."

      "We've got mosta 'em and Elecmon hold up at our place, and lemmie tell ya, it ain't easy cleaning up after a buncha digibabies!" Jijimon commented as he flailed his arms.

      "... Damn," Terriermon muttered.  "... I was hoping he was lying..."

      "I like watching all the young'ins," Babamon commented as she eyed her husband, but it was impossible to tell with her hair covering her eyes.  "They're so cute and squishy and they love to watch us fight!"

      "Yeah, and boy do we give 'em lots of shows!" Jijimon chuckled.

      "Elecmon's been going back and forth and wearing himself out trying to rebuild the village on his own and take care of all the babies at the same time," Babamon explained.  "We're doing what we can to take care of 'em, but it's a large job for just three of us."

      "We're helping too!" Terriermon waved his paws.  "Pandamon told us about it and Jen's dad is trying to make a program to rebuild it!"

      "Oi!  That's great!" Jijimon grinned hugely, his teeth barely showing through his beard and mustache.  He then glanced at Renamon.  "Where'd you find this kid?  I like him!"

      "..." Renamon glanced at Terriermon, then back at the couple.  "... What can you tell us of this... Reapermon?"

      The two Megas' good cheer seemed to instantly evaporate at the mention of Reapermon.

      "Oi...  That bastard?" Jijimon hissed angrily.

      "What do ya wanna know about that no good cross dressing son of a Lady Devimon?" Babamon scowled.

      "... Pandamon told us he is considered your savior," Renamon said, slowly.

      "Savior!?  HIM!?" Jijimon cried, apparently outraged at the very idea of it.  "He's a menace, that's what he is!  He's almost as bad as the D-Reaper!"

      "You mean he's NOT the D-Reaper?" Terriermon blinked.

      "Well, he's not all pink and blobby like the D-Reaper, hon," Babamon pointed out.  "Reapermon's a digimon."

      "... Oh," Terriermon blinked.

      "A perverted, low-life, bastard of a digimon," Jijimon added.

      "He kidnapped a Tamer... a small girl by the name of Shuichon," Renamon explained.  "We have come to rescue her and her partner Lopmon."

      "Oi...  If he's got your friends...  I'm sorry for you...," Babamon said sadly as she shook her head.

      "... Why?" Terriermon asked, looking slightly worried.

      "I heard the last time he captured some poor digimon...  Reapermon fed them to that insane puppet of his...," Jijimon whispered in a horrified tone.

      "..." Renamon's ears pressed back as her eyes widened.

      "... Ohhhhh man...," Terriermon whimpered.

      "As bad as Reapermon is, that puppet is a million times worse!" Babamon cried.  "It's an insane little creature!"

      "It's sadistic and cruel, and does stuff I don't DARE repeat," Jijimon whispered.

      "... The puppet... is alive?" Renamon asked, bewildered.

      Babamon and Jijimon looked at each other for a moment before they looked back at Renamon, nodding slowly.

      "If it isn't alive, then it does a good job of acting like it," Babamon commented.

      "It acts on its own and acts as if IT'S the one running the whole show," Jijimon added.

      "Talk about creepy!" Terriermon muttered.

      Babamon paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "You say you know Pandamon?" she suddenly asked.

      "Yes," Renamon said.  "... He has an obsession with one of the Tamers, in fact."

      "Ah!" Jijimon bopped his fist into his palm.  "That's it!  That's how you can save your friends!"

      "You could join the circus and sneak in with them!" Babamon said excitedly.  "The circus is welcome EVERYWHERE!  Including in Reapermon's castle!"

      "Oi!  I was gonna say that!" Jijimon said as he hefted his staff menacingly at Babamon.

      "The... circus?" Renamon blinked.  "... Would he do that for us?"

      "If TSUUU-CHAN asked him!" Terriermon piped up.

      "..." Renamon blinked slowly.

      "And if he still refuses," Terriermon continued.  "We'll use plan B."

      "... Plan B?" Renamon blinked.

      "Threaten to let ChibiBa eat his children."

**_*~*_**

      "... Ow..."

      Pandamon flinched slightly, then tensed. He idly remembered what happened the last time he woke up from being unconscious and was particularly wary of what he might find this time.

      However, as the dull ache disappeared from his body, found it replaced with curiosity.

      Slowly, Pandamon opened an eye.

      Instantly a pair of black blurs lunged at Pandamon, glomping tightly onto him.

      "EEE?!" Pandamon squeaked with alarm and confusion.

      "BOSS!!!" came the happy squeal from each of the black blurs, which, as they turned out, were Opossomon and Black Tailmon.

      "BAAAA~!!!" Sheepmon squealed as it lunged at Pandamon and glomped onto him as well.

      "O-Opossomon?  Black Tailmon?" Pandamon blinked as he was glomped from all sides.  "... SHEEPMON?"

      "BOSS!  BOSS!  BOSS!" Opossomon squealed in a way that he sang the word each time he repeated it as he snuggled against Pandamon's fur.

      "NYAR!" Black Tailmon cried happily, tears in her eyes, as she held Pandamon in a death grip.

      "A-ah?" Pandamon blinked slowly, then flushed.  "I'm glad to see you, too..."

      "BAAAA~!" Sheepmon bleated happily.

      "Nyaaarrrr," Black Tailmon nuzzled Pandamon.  "I was so worried... but I knew you'd come back!"

      "HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!" Opossomon squealed as he continued snuggling Pandamon.  "Our boss is back and he's okay!"

      Pandamon tried to snuggle back as best he could, despite being assaulted by three digimon, as his eyes started to water.  "I... I'm sorry...  I'm sorry for making you worry..."

      "Baaaaa~!" Sheepmon said.

      "Nyar, it wasn't your fault!" Black Tailmon purred.  "Those damn Tamers held you up!"

      "But we took care of them for you!" Opossomon chirped happily.

      "You did?" Pandamon blinked.  "How?"

      "Heh, heh, heh," Black Tailmon snickered.

**_*~*_**

      "I can't believe they're making us do this!"

      "It's not like we have any choice, Ruki," Jenrya sighed as he eyed the chain attached to his ankle.

      "If Renamon were here...," Ruki growled deep in her throat as she smacked the broom against the ground, forcefully.

      "Yeah...  I wish Terriermon was here too...," Jenrya sighed again, leaning against the broom he had been given.  "But all we can do is wait for them to come find us..."

      "I'm going to make them pay for this!" Ruki vowed, glowering darkly.  "That twittering idiot and that tramp of a cat!"

      "If only we had our D-Arcs..."  Jenrya sighed and shook his head.  Black Tailmon and Opossomon had confiscated their D-Arcs shortly after the two Tamers' capture.  "Come on, we better at least act like we're working or they might do something else to us."

      "Like what!?" Ruki growled.  "I'd like to see them try!"

      "In case you've forgotten, we're surrounded by digimon and we don't have any means to protect ourselves," Jenrya pointed out calmly; not that he wasn't thinking along the same lines.

      "..." Ruki responded with a snarl as she resumed sweeping.

      Jenrya sighed and shook his head.  "It's not as if I don't want to escape just as much as you do, Ruki, but we have to think this through logically," he explained.  "If we don't we could end up getting killed."

      "Feh," Ruki grunted.  "I knew it was a bad idea trusting that Pandamon."

      Jenrya nodded irritably as he swept his broom across the ground.

      "What are we supposed to be doing, anyway!?" Ruki demanded.  "This floor's clean!  What are we SWEEPING?"

      "'Elephant droppings'," Jenrya said, making quotation marks with his fingers in the air.

      "... But they don't HAVE any elephants!" Ruki protested.

      "I think that's the entire point," Jenrya sighed.

      "..." Ruki twitched.

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa sneezed again, then shivered quietly as he sat by the fire.  Takato looked at Tsuyosa with concern.  Takato had been able to concentrate enough that his body and clothes were able to dry off quickly because of his believing, but unfortunately it seemed as if Tsuyosa had too much trouble concentrating on doing that as well.

      Tsuyosa wiped at his eyes as he huddled closer to the fire, looking slightly pale.

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked, a worried look on his face.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa nodded, though his teeth chattered a little.

      "... Maybe you should change out of those wet clothes?" Takato offered.

      "..." Tsuyosa's eyes widened as his cheeks pinked.  "N-no, I'll be fine..."

      "But you're freezing!" Takato protested.

      "I'm okay, I just-," Tsuyosa broke off with a sneeze and shivered for a moment before he snuffled.  "... I'll be okay..."

      "But you're catching a cold from it," Takato pointed out, concerned.

      "..." Tsuyosa looked at the fire.  "... But there's nowhere to change."

      Takato's eyes widened slightly, his cheeks tinting pink, as he realized why Tsuyosa was so hesitant.  "Uh... oh... well...," Takato stammered.  "How about I look away while you change?"

      "..." Tsuyosa seemed to consider his options, then shivered again.  "... Okay..."

      Takato quickly turned away from Tsuyosa and stared out into the downpour outside, allowing him some sense of privacy.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, then shuffled to the back of the cave with his backpack.  He first checked to make sure he had dry clothes to change in to, which he then put out to the side.  Then, he removed his vest and put it down on the ground with a slippery plop.  Once done, he grabbed his shirt and hefted it up over his head.  He shivered violently when his wet skin became exposed to the cave air, and let out a small gasp.  He dropped his wet shirt down on the ground with his vest, then kicked off his soaking wet sneakers and tugged off his socks.

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato called, alarmed by the cry, and instantly turned towards Tsuyosa.  He blinked then blushed deeply, his eyes widening at what he saw.

      Tsuyosa looked up and squeaked, his face a brilliant red, as his wet pants were half on and half off.  He sat there, like a deer in headlights, and stared at Takato.

      Takato stared back at Tsuyosa, his face just as red.  He couldn't seem to move as his mind locked up because of the sight before him.

      Tsuyosa remained perfectly still, his expression dumbfounded as the fire caused the moisture on his skin to glow.

      After a few minutes of staring, Takato was finally able to think again.  With a yelp that came out like a squeak, he quickly turned away from Tsuyosa.  "S-s-sorry!" Takato yelped.

      Tsuyosa couldn't respond as he stared at Takato's back.  Slowly, his brain started to function again as his shivers returned.  Much more timidly, Tsuyosa resumed changing.

      A few minutes of scuffling issued as Tsuyosa dried himself as quickly as he could with a towel from his backpack, then put on his dry clothes.

      Once done, Tsuyosa used the towel to dry his hair as he resumed sitting by the fire.  "... I... I'm decent now," he muttered, weakly.

      Takato stared blankly at the rain as he rubbed his cheeks, trying to will away the heat he found there.  He slowly turned around at Tsuyosa, embarrassed.  "A-ah...," Takato muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.  "Sorry about that..."

      "..." Tsuyosa stared very intently at the fire, his cheeks bright red.  "... It's okay..."

      Takato shuffled his feet, too embarrassed to speak again or move closer to the fire.

      Tsuyosa continued to stare at the fire as he dried his hair with the towel, then looked up.  "... It's still pouring, huh," he muttered, his voice struggling to sound calm.

      "Uh... yeah," Takato muttered, trying not to sound as embarrassed as he felt.

      "... Think it'll stop soon?" Tsuyosa asked, levelly.

      "It doesn't look like it," Takato shook his head slightly.

      "... That doesn't make things any easier, does it?" Tsuyosa looked back down at the fire.

      "Nope... it doesn't..."

      "..."

      Takato sighed as he walked over to the fire and sat down in front of it.  "... You wouldn't happen to have an umbrella or a boat in that backpack of yours, would you?" he joked lightly, trying to ease the tension between them.

      "... Actually, I think ChibiBa has it," Tsuyosa grinned.

      Takato blinked, then chuckled quietly.  "Well, that makes sense," he smiled.

      "But I think I have some of those small plastic raincoats," Tsuyosa continued.  He paused, then flushed lightly.  "... My dad figured it'd probably rain.  He says that whenever you have something to get done, the clouds try extra hard to rain on you."

      Takato laughed lightly at that.  "Looks like he was right," he commented.  "How about after we get warmed up we use them to try and look for the others?"

      "Sounds like a plan," Tsuyosa grinned, then paled as a loud rumble of thunder lit up the sky.  "..."

      Takato blinked and looked out the cave opening.  "..."  He sighed and shook his head.  "I guess we'll have to wait until the lightning passes first."

      "..." Tsuyosa nodded slowly, then jumped with a squeak when another loud rumble seemed to shake the cave.

      Takato tensed as the thunder vibrated through him, and couldn't suppress a yelp and a shudder.

      "U-um...," Tsuyosa huddled closer to the fire.  "... I don't like thunder."

      "I know what you mean," Takato mumbled.  He glanced at Tsuyosa before he decided to scoot over to the other boy.

      Tsuyosa looked up, then back at the fire as he listened to the rain.  "... I hope the others are okay..."

      "I'm sure they are..."  Takato leaned forward slightly and wrapped his arms around his knees.  "They're probably looking for us right now."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned forward as well, then blinked.  "... I just hope ChibiBa isn't doing anything to Pandamon."

      "...?" Takato looked at Tsuyosa, blinking.  Tsuyosa looked up, then flushed and laughed nervously.

      "Well, you know... he just worries me sometimes," Tsuyosa explained.

      "... Going to eat everyone's children?"

      "... Where DID he get that idea, anyway?"

**_*~*_**

      "I can't believe they're making us do this."

      "You've said that about a dozen times already."

      "But you don't get it!" Ruki growled as she waved her rag at Jenrya.  "We're polishing props!  Not just props but GIANT SQUEAKY MOOSES."

      "I get it alright," Jenrya sighed.  "But I don't think you do.  They're not making us do this because it needs to be done.  They're doing this to annoy us."

      "..." Ruki twitched.  "This is the most bizarre torture I've ever heard of!"

      "Believe me, it's no picnic for me either," Jenrya sighed as he eyed the overly shiny giant squeaky moose he had been polishing.

      "They're insane!" Ruki hissed as she resumed polishing the props.  "They're totally insane!"

      Jenrya nodded, sighing, as he dipped his washrag in the bucket of water by their feet.  "It could be worse," he muttered.

      "HOW?" Ruki demanded.  "HOW can it be worse!?"

      "They could've had real elephants for us to clean up after."


	38. Separation Anxiety (Yaoi-Free)

Authors' Notes:  After so many authors' notes it's hard to figure out what else to say here.  So I'll just restate that this story is ours as well as any and all new characters we add into it.  No stealing!

      Also, we're back to dividing the chapters again!  Which means everyone can have his or her daily-recommended supply of boy/boy love.  Aren't you so happy?  ^_^

      Of course it's your choice to see it or not, so in case you don't want to see it, stick around right here where all the yumminess has been cut out.  If you want to see the yummy yaoi, then toddle onto the uncensored version, because you're in yaoi-free country.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 27: Separation Anxiety_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "And then... he said that..."

      "Oh, that CAD."

      "Uh huh...  Boys are icky!"

      "So VERY icky!  ICKY!  ICKY!  ICKY!"

      "Rawr!"

      Lopmon sighed to herself, wondering what was taking everybody so long.

      Shuichon sat on a large pink sleeping bag with a big white unicorn on it, wearing a matching pink nightgown that had been stolen by the mysterious claw's minions.  The mysterious beast itself sat on a soft purple sleeping bag with a fuzzy pink bunny on it, wearing a matching nightgown as well.  The Leomon puppet wore a soft green nightgown, wiggling its head happily as it danced about.  While Lopmon herself wore an oversized pink nightgown which matched Shuichon's, and sat on a sleeping bag with a princess in a sparkling pink gown among a fantasy setting.

      The four of them, including the puppet, were having a 'girl's sleepover'.

      The first hour was spent eating tons of ice cream and talking about My Little Horsies.  The second hour was spent giggling insanely over hot cocoa as they watched the Care Bunnies on a large television set, also stolen by the monster's minions.  Now they were on the third hour, which was dedicated to reading girly magazines and gossiping about boys.

      Regardless of the fact that Lopmon suspected the mysterious claw was, in fact, a boy.

      "And... and... GUESS WHAT!"

      "What?"

      "Rawr?"

      "A boy tried to kiss me in kindergarten once!"

      "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!" the two 'girls' squealed as the puppet made retching noises.

      Lopmon blinked, then sighed again.  She really, really hoped the others arrived soon.

**_*~*_**

      "Someone... is going to have their children eaten."

      "Who?" Guilmon blinked innocently at ChibiBa.

      "Whoever separated me from Tsu," ChibiBa replied as he tromped through the rolling waves of dead or dying grass.  "I'm going to eat their children."

      The two wandered through a huge plain of waving golden brown grass, which was like a sea with no end.

      "Why?" Guilmon blinked.  "Are they children made of bread?"

      "No," ChibiBa replied.  "But they did this on purpose, so I'm going to make them suffer."

      "Oh?  Why eat them if they not made of bread?" Guilmon tilted his head.  "Do they have peanut butter?"

      "No," ChibiBa glanced at Guilmon.  "Because I want them to suffer for tearing me and Tsu apart."

      "Ohhh...," Guilmon nodded slowly, somewhat comprehending.  "You mean data streams?"

      "..."  ChibiBa decided to just drop the subject as he tromped along, almost invisible among the grass.

      "How do you eat data streams?" Guilmon blinked, tilting his head slightly.  "They all glowy and grabby and stuff."

      "You don't eat the streams," ChibiBa retorted.  "You eat the person responsible for them."

      "Ohhh..."  Guilmon nodded slowly.  "How you gonna eat all the Real World?  'Cause that's where they come from."

      "... But someone has to be RESPONSIBLE for it!" ChibiBa explained.  "SOMEONE made them happen!"

      "Ohh...  Who?"

      "Whoever it is.  I don't know...  That's why I'm going to find them," ChibiBa growled, starting to get irritated.

      "How?" Guilmon blinked.

      "... I'll think of a way," ChibiBa replied.

      "Oh, okay."

      "Anyway," ChibiBa sniffed, disdainfully.  "I can only hope poor Tsu isn't stuck with Pandamon or-"  ChibiBa debated mentioning Guilmon's Tamer but decidedly held his tongue.

      "Pandamon's weird," Guilmon commented, not noticing the 'or'.

      "Yeah, well," ChibiBa growled.  "I'll kick his butt if he tries anything!"

      "Renamon and Terriermon'll protect them so you no have to worry," Guilmon said cheerfully.

      "Bah," ChibiBa growled.  "I doubt it.  They can barely protect themselves.  If you all saved the world, it must have been by the skin of your teeth.  You're so out of shape it's not funny!"

      "Huh?" Guilmon blinked at ChibiBa.  "What do you mean?"

      ChibiBa twirled on his heel and poked Guilmon in the stomach.  "You're all blubber!" ChibiBa grunted.  "Do you even train?"

      "Hey, that tickles!" Guilmon giggled as he was poked.

      "You barely have any muscle at all," ChibiBa pointed out as he poked Guilmon's stomach, then reared back and flexed.  "Look at me!  PURE muscle!"

      Guilmon couldn't reply as he was too busy wiggling and laughing.  "Hey!  Hey!  I ticklish there!" he giggled.  ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

      "How can you expect to protect Takato if you've got so much fat?" ChibiBa asked.

      Guilmon finally stopped laughing once ChibiBa had stopped poking him.  "Huh?" Guilmon blinked at the mention of his Tamer.

      "... Do you know what fat is?" ChibiBa asked.

      Guilmon shook his head.

      "... This is fat!" ChibiBa grabbed Guilmon's arm and pinched it lightly, wiggling the fatty area of his arm.  "It's bad.  It weighs you down... makes you slow and lose energy very fast."

      "It's like having big heavy weights attached to your body," ChibiBa continued as he let go.  "It's all sloshy and icky."

      "Ohhhhh...," Guilmon blinked at his arm and started wiggling the fatty area.  "I no knew I could do that!"

      "It's a bad thing," ChibiBa muttered.  "It means you're out of shape... which can easily get you deleted if you meet an opponent who's very strong."

      Guilmon blinked at ChibiBa.  "That IS bad," he observed.  "How I make it stop?"

      "You train," ChibiBa replied as he cracked his neck, idly.  "If you train, you can turn that fat in to muscles... and you'll be very strong.  Like me."

      "Oh!  I train before!" Guilmon said happily.  "It was fun!"

      "Well, you need to train a lot!" ChibiBa replied.  "The more you do, the stronger you'll be!"

      "Okay!  So where we find a train?" Guilmon asked, excited.

      "..."  ChibiBa stared at Guilmon, then slapped his forehead.  "NO!  NOT THAT KIND OF TRAIN!"

      "Huh?" Guilmon blinked.  "What other type train is there?"

      "The ACTION of training," ChibiBa sighed, then blinked and tapped his chin.  "I guess I could show you... train you a little.  I mean, I am very qualified."

      Guilmon tilted his head curiously, paying rapt attention to ChibiBa.

      "... Alright, I guess that settles it," ChibiBa nodded, sharply.  "You're going to be one buff dino digimon when I'm done with you!"

      "Ooooh?  Is buff another word for puff, like cream puffs?" Guilmon asked as he tilted his head.  "I like cream puffs!"

      "..." ChibiBa twitched, then sighed.  "No, it means STRONG!  Like ME!  I'm BUFF!"  He flexed to prove his point, his muscles very visible around his armor.

      "Ooooh!  Does buff mean short and black?"

      "... No," ChibiBa growled.  "It means... I'm going to work your butt off!"

      "Aaah!  No!" Guilmon yelped as he grabbed his butt with his claws.  "I need my butt!  It holds my tail up!"

      "... ..."  ChibiBa twitched very violently, then took a few deep breaths before he fixed Guilmon with a gaze.  "Let's start your training while we look for Tsu..."  He paused, then growled.  "... And the others," he added.

      ChibiBa turned and pointed far ahead of them.  "We're going to race to that point.  Run as fast as you can and try to beat me to that point.  Got it?"

      "Yeah!"  Guilmon then blinked and paused as he tilted his head.  "This mean I can keep my butt?"

      "... Yes.  You can keep your butt."

      "YAY!"

**_*~*_**

      "Ruki!"

      "Jeeeeen!"

      Renamon walked slowly through the forest, which was surprisingly green.  Unlike the rest of the Digital World, the forest was still alive and thriving.  It was most likely one of the few places that wasn't badly damaged by the Great Destruction that Pandamon had spoken of, which gave the two a little sense of hope that things could still be salvaged.

      Terriermon walked quickly to keep up with Renamon, his stride much shorter than the fox digimon's because of their size differences.

      "RUKI!" Renamon called again, her ears pricked for any response.

      "JEEEEEEN!" Terriermon yelled, cupping his mouth to try to make his voice carry further.  He looked around, frowning, as there was no sign of either of their partners or the rest of their friends.  "Stupid data streams," he muttered.  "They're a big pain in the butt!"

      "We have to find them," Renamon muttered.  "They could fall victim to any digimon they come across."

      Terriermon nodded sharply, frowning.  "I just hope the others are with Jen and Ruki...  They could protect 'em until we find them at least," he muttered.

      "... And Pandamon better not try any double-crosses," Renamon added as she jumped over a fallen tree rather easily.

      "If he does, we'll kick his butt!" Terriermon grunted as he hopped onto the log and then off it as he continued following Renamon.

      "RUKI!" Renamon called again as she continued walking.

      "JEEEEN!" Terriermon yelled as he looked around some more.

      "Oi, oi!  What's with all the yelling about here now?"

      "Hm?" Renamon paused and glanced around.

      "Who's there?!" Terriermon called.

      "Oi, such rudeness!  The young have no respect for their elders!"

      "Ain't that the truth."

      "Jijimon?  Babamon?" Renamon blinked.

      Almost as if summoned by the mention of their names, Jijimon and Babamon flew down to the ground on their staff and broom respectively, landing in front of Renamon and Terriermon.  "Long time no see, Renamon," Babamon smiled brightly.

      "It is good to see you," Renamon smiled, slightly.

      "Oi, you never call, you never write," Jijimon shook his head.  "Oi, we'd like to hear a little word from a friend now and again you know!"

      "Oi, that's no way to talk to an old friend you, old coot," Babamon glanced at Jijimon.  She then looked at Renamon.  "It's great to see ya again!"

      "Old coot am I?" Jijimon said as he lifted his staff.  "Sounds like fightin' words to me!"

      "Excuse me," Renamon interrupted before the two could start quarreling.  "But why are you here, so far from home?"

      "Friends of yours?" Terriermon asked Renamon as he eyed Jijimon and Babamon as they hefted their respective objects menacingly at each other.

      "Yes," Renamon replied.  "They helped Ruki and I back when we came to save Culumon."

      "Ah, well after the D-Reaper came trouncing about and deleting most of the Digital World, our home got smashed up too," Babamon explained as she lowered her broom.

      "So when we came back home there was no home to go to," Jijimon added, lowering his staff as well.

      "I see," Renamon said.  "That is unfortunate...  I am sorry."

      "Bah!  That old place was too dusty anyway," Babamon said as she waved her hand dismissively.  "We've got a new place now here and it's great!"

      "Great?  Try saying that when pollen season comes around!  My hay-fever's murder!" Jijimon griped.

      "..." Renamon tilted her head.  "... Jijimon?  Babamon?  Might I ask you a question?"

      "Go ahead, dear," Babamon said as she leaned on her broom.

      "What can you tell me of the Great Destruction?" Renamon asked.  "A digimon by the name of Pandamon mentioned it."

      "The Great Destruction...," Jijimon breathed, his voice quiet.

      "Oh it was terrible!" Babamon sighed as she shook her head.  "So many poor digimon got all squished!"

      "We were going to visit Elecmon at Primary Village at the time," Jijimon added.  "Oi...  It was horrible I tell ya!"

      "Oi, it was so backed up, poor Elecmon could barely catch a break!" Babamon shook her head.

      "The waiting list to be reborn was longer than the hairs in Babamon's nose, lemmie tell ya," Jijimon commented.

      "Hey!  My nose hairs are shorter than yours!" Babamon glared at her husband.

      "Oi, is that why you braid them every night before you go to sleep?" Jijimon glared back as he hefted his staff menacingly.

      "..."  Terriermon eyed the couple and then glanced at Renamon.  "Are they always like this?" he whispered.

      Renamon nodded slightly, then coughed.

      "Please," Renamon said.  "What happened...?  Was Primary Village destroyed?"

      The pair of Megas lowered their implements of destruction and returned their attention to the two Rookies.  "Oh yeah, it went all squish!" Jijimon said as he made motions as if flattening something between his hands.  "It was horrible!"

      "... Even the digieggs?" Renamon asked, her voice quiet.  "Those newly reborn?"

      The two old Megas were silent as they nodded, their expressions solemn.

      "Not all of them," Babamon added.  "We saved some with Elecmon, but there were just too many and the Great Destruction happened too fast!"

      "... I see," Renamon closed her eyes.  "Pandamon did not exaggerate, then..."

      "We've got mosta 'em and Elecmon hold up at our place, and lemmie tell ya, it ain't easy cleaning up after a buncha digibabies!" Jijimon commented as he flailed his arms.

      "... Damn," Terriermon muttered.  "... I was hoping he was lying..."

      "I like watching all the young'ins," Babamon commented as she eyed her husband, but it was impossible to tell with her hair covering her eyes.  "They're so cute and squishy and they love to watch us fight!"

      "Yeah, and boy do we give 'em lots of shows!" Jijimon chuckled.

      "Elecmon's been going back and forth and wearing himself out trying to rebuild the village on his own and take care of all the babies at the same time," Babamon explained.  "We're doing what we can to take care of 'em, but it's a large job for just three of us."

      "We're helping too!" Terriermon waved his paws.  "Pandamon told us about it and Jen's dad is trying to make a program to rebuild it!"

      "Oi!  That's great!" Jijimon grinned hugely, his teeth barely showing through his beard and mustache.  He then glanced at Renamon.  "Where'd you find this kid?  I like him!"

      "..." Renamon glanced at Terriermon, then back at the couple.  "... What can you tell us of this... Reapermon?"

      The two Megas' good cheer seemed to instantly evaporate at the mention of Reapermon.

      "Oi...  That bastard?" Jijimon hissed angrily.

      "What do ya wanna know about that no good cross dressing son of a Lady Devimon?" Babamon scowled.

      "... Pandamon told us he is considered your savior," Renamon said, slowly.

      "Savior!?  HIM!?" Jijimon cried, apparently outraged at the very idea of it.  "He's a menace, that's what he is!  He's almost as bad as the D-Reaper!"

      "You mean he's NOT the D-Reaper?" Terriermon blinked.

      "Well, he's not all pink and blobby like the D-Reaper, hon," Babamon pointed out.  "Reapermon's a digimon."

      "... Oh," Terriermon blinked.

      "A perverted, low-life, bastard of a digimon," Jijimon added.

      "He kidnapped a Tamer... a small girl by the name of Shuichon," Renamon explained.  "We have come to rescue her and her partner Lopmon."

      "Oi...  If he's got your friends...  I'm sorry for you...," Babamon said sadly as she shook her head.

      "... Why?" Terriermon asked, looking slightly worried.

      "I heard the last time he captured some poor digimon...  Reapermon fed them to that insane puppet of his...," Jijimon whispered in a horrified tone.

      "..." Renamon's ears pressed back as her eyes widened.

      "... Ohhhhh man...," Terriermon whimpered.

      "As bad as Reapermon is, that puppet is a million times worse!" Babamon cried.  "It's an insane little creature!"

      "It's sadistic and cruel, and does stuff I don't DARE repeat," Jijimon whispered.

      "... The puppet... is alive?" Renamon asked, bewildered.

      Babamon and Jijimon looked at each other for a moment before they looked back at Renamon, nodding slowly.

      "If it isn't alive, then it does a good job of acting like it," Babamon commented.

      "It acts on its own and acts as if IT'S the one running the whole show," Jijimon added.

      "Talk about creepy!" Terriermon muttered.

      Babamon paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully.  "You say you know Pandamon?" she suddenly asked.

      "Yes," Renamon said.  "... He has an obsession with one of the Tamers, in fact."

      "Ah!" Jijimon bopped his fist into his palm.  "That's it!  That's how you can save your friends!"

      "You could join the circus and sneak in with them!" Babamon said excitedly.  "The circus is welcome EVERYWHERE!  Including in Reapermon's castle!"

      "Oi!  I was gonna say that!" Jijimon said as he hefted his staff menacingly at Babamon.

      "The... circus?" Renamon blinked.  "... Would he do that for us?"

      "If TSUUU-CHAN asked him!" Terriermon piped up.

      "..." Renamon blinked slowly.

      "And if he still refuses," Terriermon continued.  "We'll use plan B."

      "... Plan B?" Renamon blinked.

      "Threaten to let ChibiBa eat his children."

**_*~*_**

      "... Ow..."

      Pandamon flinched slightly, then tensed. He idly remembered what happened the last time he woke up from being unconscious and was particularly wary of what he might find this time.

      However, as the dull ache disappeared from his body, found it replaced with curiosity.

      Slowly, Pandamon opened an eye.

      Instantly a pair of black blurs lunged at Pandamon, glomping tightly onto him.

      "EEE?!" Pandamon squeaked with alarm and confusion.

      "BOSS!!!" came the happy squeal from each of the black blurs, which, as they turned out, were Opossomon and Black Tailmon.

      "BAAAA~!!!" Sheepmon squealed as it lunged at Pandamon and glomped onto him as well.

      "O-Opossomon?  Black Tailmon?" Pandamon blinked as he was glomped from all sides.  "... SHEEPMON?"

      "BOSS!  BOSS!  BOSS!" Opossomon squealed in a way that he sang the word each time he repeated it as he snuggled against Pandamon's fur.

      "NYAR!" Black Tailmon cried happily, tears in her eyes, as she held Pandamon in a death grip.

      "A-ah?" Pandamon blinked slowly, then flushed.  "I'm glad to see you, too..."

      "BAAAA~!" Sheepmon bleated happily.

      "Nyaaarrrr," Black Tailmon nuzzled Pandamon.  "I was so worried... but I knew you'd come back!"

      "HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!" Opossomon squealed as he continued snuggling Pandamon.  "Our boss is back and he's okay!"

      Pandamon tried to snuggle back as best he could, despite being assaulted by three digimon, as his eyes started to water.  "I... I'm sorry...  I'm sorry for making you worry..."

      "Baaaaa~!" Sheepmon said.

      "Nyar, it wasn't your fault!" Black Tailmon purred.  "Those damn Tamers held you up!"

      "But we took care of them for you!" Opossomon chirped happily.

      "You did?" Pandamon blinked.  "How?"

      "Heh, heh, heh," Black Tailmon snickered.

**_*~*_**

      "I can't believe they're making us do this!"

      "It's not like we have any choice, Ruki," Jenrya sighed as he eyed the chain attached to his ankle.

      "If Renamon were here...," Ruki growled deep in her throat as she smacked the broom against the ground, forcefully.

      "Yeah...  I wish Terriermon was here too...," Jenrya sighed again, leaning against the broom he had been given.  "But all we can do is wait for them to come find us..."

      "I'm going to make them pay for this!" Ruki vowed, glowering darkly.  "That twittering idiot and that tramp of a cat!"

      "If only we had our D-Arcs..."  Jenrya sighed and shook his head.  Black Tailmon and Opossomon had confiscated their D-Arcs shortly after the two Tamers' capture.  "Come on, we better at least act like we're working or they might do something else to us."

      "Like what!?" Ruki growled.  "I'd like to see them try!"

      "In case you've forgotten, we're surrounded by digimon and we don't have any means to protect ourselves," Jenrya pointed out calmly; not that he wasn't thinking along the same lines.

      "..." Ruki responded with a snarl as she resumed sweeping.

      Jenrya sighed and shook his head.  "It's not as if I don't want to escape just as much as you do, Ruki, but we have to think this through logically," he explained.  "If we don't we could end up getting killed."

      "Feh," Ruki grunted.  "I knew it was a bad idea trusting that Pandamon."

      Jenrya nodded irritably as he swept his broom across the ground.

      "What are we supposed to be doing, anyway!?" Ruki demanded.  "This floor's clean!  What are we SWEEPING?"

      "'Elephant droppings'," Jenrya said, making quotation marks with his fingers in the air.

      "... But they don't HAVE any elephants!" Ruki protested.

      "I think that's the entire point," Jenrya sighed.

      "..." Ruki twitched.

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa sneezed again, then shivered quietly as he sat by the fire.  Takato looked at Tsuyosa with concern.  Takato had been able to concentrate enough that his body and clothes were able to dry off because of his believe, but unfortunately it seemed as if Tsuyosa had too much trouble concentrating on doing that as well.

      Tsuyosa wiped at his eyes as he huddled closer to the fire, looking slightly pale.

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked, a worried look on his face.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa nodded, though his teeth chattered a little.

      "... Maybe you should change out of those wet clothes?" Takato offered.

      "..." Tsuyosa's eyes widened as his cheeks pinked.  "N-no, I'll be fine..."

      "But you're freezing!" Takato protested.

      "I'm okay, I just-," Tsuyosa broke off with a sneeze and shivered for a moment before he snuffled.  "... I'll be okay..."

      "But you're catching a cold from it," Takato pointed out, concerned.

      "..." Tsuyosa looked at the fire.  "... But there's nowhere to change."

      Takato's eyes widened slightly, his cheeks tinting pink, as he realized why Tsuyosa was so hesitant.  "Uh... oh... well...," Takato stammered.  "How about I look away while you change?"

      "..." Tsuyosa seemed to consider his options, then shivered again.  "... Okay..."

      Takato quickly turned away from Tsuyosa and stared out into the downpour outside, allowing him some sense of privacy.

      Tsuyosa looked at Takato, then shuffled to the back of the cave with his backpack.  He first checked to make sure he had dry clothes to change in to, which he then put out to the side.  Then, he removed his vest and put it down on the ground with a slippery plop.  Once done, he grabbed his shirt and hefted it up over his head.  He shivered violently when his wet skin became exposed to the cave air, and let out a small gasp.  He dropped his wet shirt down on the ground with his vest, then kicked off his soaking wet sneakers and tugged off his socks.

      "Tsuyosa?" Takato called, alarmed by the cry, and instantly turned towards Tsuyosa.  He blinked then blushed deeply, his eyes widening at what he saw.

      Tsuyosa looked up and squeaked, his face a brilliant red, as his wet pants were half on and half off.  He sat there, like a deer in headlights, and stared at Takato.

      Takato stared back at Tsuyosa, his face just as red.  With a yelp that came out like a squeak, he quickly turned away from Tsuyosa.  "S-s-sorry!" Takato yelped.

      Tsuyosa remained perfectly still, his expression dumbfounded.  He couldn't respond as he stared at Takato's back.  Slowly, his brain started to function again as his shivers returned.  Much more timidly, Tsuyosa resumed changing.

      A few minutes of scuffling issued as Tsuyosa dried himself as quickly as he could with a towel from his backpack, then put on his dry clothes.

      Once done, Tsuyosa used the towel to dry his hair as he resumed sitting by the fire.  "... I... I'm decent now," he muttered, weakly.

      Takato stared blankly at the rain as he rubbed his cheeks, trying to will away the heat he found there.  He slowly turned around at Tsuyosa, embarrassed.  "A-ah...," Takato muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.  "Sorry about that..."

      "..." Tsuyosa stared very intently at the fire, his cheeks bright red.  "... It's okay..."

      Takato shuffled his feet, too embarrassed to speak again or move closer to the fire.

      Tsuyosa continued to stare at the fire as he dried his hair with the towel, then looked up.  "... It's still pouring, huh," he muttered, his voice struggling to sound calm.

      "Uh... yeah," Takato muttered, trying not to sound as embarrassed as he felt.

      "... Think it'll stop soon?" Tsuyosa asked, levelly.

      "It doesn't look like it," Takato shook his head slightly.

      "... That doesn't make things any easier, does it?" Tsuyosa looked back down at the fire.

      "Nope... it doesn't..."

      "..."

      Takato sighed as he walked over to the fire and sat down in front of it.  "... You wouldn't happen to have an umbrella or a boat in that backpack of yours, would you?" he joked lightly, trying to ease the tension between them.

      "... Actually, I think ChibiBa has it," Tsuyosa grinned.

      Takato blinked, then chuckled quietly.  "Well, that makes sense," he smiled.

      "But I think I have some of those small plastic raincoats," Tsuyosa continued.  He paused, then flushed lightly.  "... My dad figured it'd probably rain.  He says that whenever you have something to get done, the clouds try extra hard to rain on you."

      Takato laughed lightly at that.  "Looks like he was right," he commented.  "How about after we get warmed up we use them to try and look for the others?"

      "Sounds like a plan," Tsuyosa grinned, then paled as a loud rumble of thunder lit up the sky.  "..."

      Takato blinked and looked out the cave opening.  "..."  He sighed and shook his head.  "I guess we'll have to wait until the lightning passes first."

      "..." Tsuyosa nodded slowly, then jumped with a squeak when another loud rumble seemed to shake the cave.

      Takato tensed as the thunder vibrated through him, and couldn't suppress a yelp and a shudder.

      "U-um...," Tsuyosa huddled closer to the fire.  "... I don't like thunder."

      "I know what you mean," Takato mumbled.  He glanced at Tsuyosa before he decided to scoot over to the other boy.

      Tsuyosa looked up, then back at the fire as he listened to the rain.  "... I hope the others are okay..."

      "I'm sure they are..."  Takato leaned forward slightly and wrapped his arms around his knees.  "They're probably looking for us right now."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned forward as well, then blinked.  "... I just hope ChibiBa isn't doing anything to Pandamon."

      "...?" Takato looked at Tsuyosa, blinking.  Tsuyosa looked up, then flushed and laughed nervously.

      "Well, you know... he just worries me sometimes," Tsuyosa explained.

      "... Going to eat everyone's children?"

      "... Where DID he get that idea, anyway?"

**_*~*_**

      "I can't believe they're making us do this."

      "You've said that about a dozen times already."

      "But you don't get it!" Ruki growled as she waved her rag at Jenrya.  "We're polishing props!  Not just props but GIANT SQUEAKY MOOSES."

      "I get it alright," Jenrya sighed.  "But I don't think you do.  They're not making us do this because it needs to be done.  They're doing this to annoy us."

      "..." Ruki twitched.  "This is the most bizarre torture I've ever heard of!"

      "Believe me, it's no picnic for me either," Jenrya sighed as he eyed the overly shiny giant squeaky moose he had been polishing.

      "They're insane!" Ruki hissed as she resumed polishing the props.  "They're totally insane!"

      Jenrya nodded, sighing, as he dipped his washrag in the bucket of water by their feet.  "It could be worse," he muttered.

      "HOW?" Ruki demanded.  "HOW can it be worse!?"

      "They could've had real elephants for us to clean up after."


	39. All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Authors' Notes:  As usual, we don't own Digimon... unfortunately... ;_;  But Tsuyosa, Sera, and other fan characters ARE ours...  So even if you loooove them, you can't kidnap them!  They'd be very sad.

      Also, this story is ours so don't steal it to get into syndication and make millions off of this...  But if you know how to do that without getting sued, tell us, okay?  XD

      This chapter has been divided between normal uncensored yummy-ness, and censored, yaoi-free-ness.  In case you missed the marker at the top, you're in the uncensored version of the story, so there WILL be boy/boy love in here.  If you don't like it, ya better go to the yaoi-free version!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 28: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go_**

**__**

****

**_*~*_**

      Sera sighed as she slowly awakened from her slumber.  After stripping of her wet clothes and drying off, she had changed into another set of clothing a little more appropriate for colder climates: a thick sweater and jeans.  Her backpack had been thankfully waterproof and kept her clothing and other possessions from getting soaked.  After getting dry and dressed, it was decided that she'd rest and recover her strength while Beelzebumon went out and got some food for the two of them.

      Beelzebumon had been gone for quite a while, muttering about blowing holes in the ice and skewering fish with his tail.  Sera could only hope he didn't blow himself up in the process.

      Sera sat up slowly before stretching and letting out a tired yawn.  She rubbed her eyes and blinked repeatedly to rid the sleep from them.  She glanced around once her sight was no longer blurry, hoping that Beelzebumon finally returned.  She sighed heavily as she saw that the igloo was still empty.

      "I guess I should sleep some more until he gets back," she thought before she laid back down onto the bed.

      Sera closed her eyes after snuggling under the warm and thick covers, then tried to concentrate on going back to sleep.  It seemed as if sleep would come harder for her a second time as thoughts of what had occurred before they all left for the Digital World flittered through her mind.

      Sera blushed heavily, her hand moving to touch her lips, as she remembered what she had confessed to Impmon and what she had done immediately after that.  She could barely believe that she had been so bold, but Impmon had been so vulnerable that she couldn't keep her feelings back any longer.

      She frowned a little as she also remembered his reaction to her confession and actions.

      Sera sighed and snuggled closer under the blankets, curling up slightly.  She couldn't help but think that she really screwed up in confessing her feelings to Impmon at the wrong time, if there ever was a right time to do it to begin with.

      WHAM!

      "DAMN FISH!  WHAT THE HELL THEY RUNNIN' FOR!?"

      Sera yelped loudly and sat up instantly at the loud noise and yelling, whirling towards the source.

      Beelzebumon stormed in to the room after effectively venting on the defenseless door, covered from head to toe in snow.  He stormed over to the heater, shivering repeatedly, as he gave a mighty shake and discarded at least a foot of snow from his person.  The door slowly slid shut behind him, dented due to the Mega's foul mood, as Beelzebumon proceeded to strip himself of the icy, wet clothes.  He had totally forgotten Sera was there for the moment, far too angry about the fish to notice much else.

      "You'd think they'd be a little more GENEROUS and let me KILL THEM!" Beelzebumon spat as he dropped his jacket to the floor and unzipped his bodysuit.  "Instead of makin' a guy fall in and NEARLY FREEZE TO DEATH!"

       Sera let out a sigh of relief as it was just Beelzebumon making all the noise, then blinked repeatedly.  Her eyes widened and she let out a squeaking yelp of surprise as she stared at him as he quickly stripped himself of all his clothes in front of her.

      "Eh?" Beelzebumon blinked, then tilted his head to peer back.  "...?"

      That's when he remembered Sera was there.

      "... AAAACK!!!" Beelzebumon shrieked as he fell over.

      Sera continued to stare as she made small squeaking sound of surprise and embarrassment, her face incredibly red.  Her mind seemed to lock up at the sight of Beelzebumon naked, as she couldn't do anything more than that.

      Beelzebumon shrieked and scrambled for the door, diving outside and out of sight.

      In to the snow, in fact.

      Beelzebumon realized THAT fact the moment he made it outside.

      A few tense moments passed before he knocked on the door very slowly.

      "B-B-Beel...zebu...mon...?" Sera blinked slowly as her mind started to work again.  She slid out of the bed and walked to the door, torn between embarrassment and concern for her partner.  Concern won out, however, and she opened the door to let Beelzebumon back inside.

      Beelzebumon stood there shivering as his tail wrapped around his waist, his wings hugging himself.

      "...  ...  ..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "I'm cold."

      "..."  Sera stepped back a bit, giving Beelzebumon room to walk in.  "C-c-come b-back in," she muttered, her voice squeaking as a dark blush stained her cheeks.

      Beelzebumon shuffled inside, looking quite cold and naked.  "..."

      Sera closed the door behind him and stared at it a few moments, taking some deep and calming breaths.

      Beelzebumon sat down in front of the heater and hunched towards it, trying desperately to hide the fact that he was greatly embarrassed.

      "..."

      Sera turned back towards Beelzebumon after she thought she got her emotions, and her hormones, under control, but the sight of him naked proved her wrong.  She forced herself to continue to function as best she could in spite of that fact, however, and walked over to her backpack.  Silently she unzipped it and pulled out a large thermal blanket.  Shakily, she walked up behind him and timidly wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and wings.  She concentrated on avoiding looking at his bare skin as much as possible, because if she did, she wouldn't be able to think clearly again.

      "H-here...," she mumbled quietly, a tiny tremor in her voice.

      "... Th-thank you," Beelzebumon replied, his voice unnaturally high pitched as he pulled the blanket around him.

      "Y-you're welcome...," Sera muttered as she looked away from Beelzebumon, both to spare him from embarrassment and to keep herself restrained from doing... something; she had no idea what.

      "...  ..."  Beelzebumon slowly hung his jacket and bodysuit near the heater to dry them, clinging to the blanket almost desperately.  "... I didn't get any fish."

      "I-it's okay," Sera said quietly, trying to stop the stammer in her voice.  "I-I'm not hungry anyway...  Besides... I-I brought emergency rations...  It's not much, but..."

      "..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "..."

      "I... I'll get some for you."  Sera walked back over to her backpack, figuring Beelzebumon was hungry after his ordeal.  Quietly she rooted through her bag, pulling out small bags of snack foods and a couple instant meals.

      "..." Beelzebumon peered over his shoulder at Sera.  "... Um... Sera?"

      "Y-yeah?" Sera blinked as she glanced at Beelzebumon, her face still flushed.

      "..."

      "What is it?" Sera blinked slowly, setting the food down next to her backpack.

      "... I think my butt's frozen to the floor."

**_*~*_**

      "That's it!  I've had it!"

      Jenrya looked up from the scarf he was folding towards Ruki who was visibly fuming.

      "We've been folding scarves for HOURS," Ruki hissed.  "HOURS!  There's no end!"

      Jenrya sighed heavily as he surveyed the apparently endless room, filled with mounds of folded scarves, and piles of ones that weren't.  "I know, but what can we do about it?" he asked, looking at Ruki.

      "Escape," Ruki fixed Jenrya with a gaze.  "Now."

      "Do you have an idea?" Jenrya blinked at Ruki, apparently unfazed by her gaze.

      "Yes," Ruki grinned wolfishly, then pointed at the chains.  "Watch this."

      Jenrya blinked and watched Ruki and the chains curiously.

      Ruki leaned down, grabbled the shackle...

      ... and opened it.

      "..." Jenrya eyes widened as he boggled.  "You mean it was unlocked this entire time?!"

      "Yes," Ruki replied.  "I noticed it earlier... they've been playing a mind game with us!"

      "... And you picked NOW to unlock it?" Jenrya blinked, somewhat agitated.  "Why didn't you say or do anything before?"

      "Because we weren't alone," Ruki smirked, evilly.  "They were watching us... but our so-called GUARDS went off to eat popcorn."

      "Oh," Jenrya nodded.  "Well, what're we waiting for?  Let's go find our D-Arcs and get outta here!"

      Ruki nodded and stood up, heading towards the tent flap.

      "Then I'm gonna ram my foot up that Pandamon's fuzzy ass!" Ruki growled.

      Jenrya followed suit once he opened up his shackle, trying to move as silently as possible.

      Ruki stormed silently, radiating hatred, as she approached the storage tent opening and strode out the flap.  Jenrya took a more cautious approach, keeping a sharp look out for any members of the circus that could be around.

      However, neither Tamer was prepared for what awaited them outside the tent.

      A giant brick wall stood in front of them, with the word "GOTCHA" painted on it in bright red.  Beneath the words were doodles of mocking smiley faces that looked suspiciously like two certain digimon.

      "..."

      "What?!" Jenrya gasped.

      "Took you a while, didn't it?  Nyaaaar!"

      "Ehehehehehe!  Stupid humans!  They can't tell a door from a brick wall!"

      Jenrya and Ruki whirled to face Black Tailmon and Opossomon, who were smirking in amusement at the two Tamers.

       Black Tailmon tilted her head and smirked, cutely.  "Did it really take you this long to realize that you weren't locked up?"

      Opossomon let out a high-pitched, maniacal cackle as he juggled a pair of black orbs with one of his paws.  "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" he practically sang mockingly.

      "Heh, heh, heh!" Black Tailmon tapped her chin.  "You'd HAVE to be pretty stupid to do what they did to Pandamon.  That was just asking for trouble!"

      "Prepare for trouble!" Opossomon smirked.  "And make it double!"  With that he tossed one of his orbs at the Tamers.

      Ruki yelped as she caught the orb easily, then paled as it popped to reveal a toilet bowl brush.  Jenrya blinked and yelped also as Opossomon tossed the remaining orb at him as well.  As he caught the orb instinctively, it popped to reveal a large plunger.

      "You've got toilet duty!" Black Tailmon cackled.

      "And you better be good at holding your breaths," Opossomon grinned like a shark.  "Sheepmon had BURRITOS last night."

      "..." Ruki blinked, then turned to stare at Jenrya.

      "..." Jenrya glanced back at Ruki.

      "Nyaaaaar."

      "Ehehehehehe!"

**_*~*_**

      "Oi!  You fly too slow!"

      "No I don't!  You fly too fast, ya old fart!"

      "Bah, back broom driver!"

      "I'm just sick of looking at your sorry behind!"

      "Them's fighting words!"

      "You better believe it!  Just wait until we land!"

      "Please don't fight... we're quite a ways off the ground and I do not want to fall."

      "Don't they EVER stop?" Terriermon moaned quietly.  He sat behind Jijimon on his staff, gripping the weapon's handle tightly with his ears so as not to fall off.

      Renamon shook her head in response as she sat, delicately, on Babamon's broom.

      "BAH!  I can take you any time!  Land or air, you old coot!"

      "COOT?!  I'll give you coot!"

      "H-HEY!  Don't fight up here!" Terriermon yelped.  "We'll all go crashing to the ground!"

      "Tell me... do you think Pandamon will really help us?" Renamon asked, trying to divert their attention.  "I understand a crush is powerful, but would he really be willing to do something so dangerous just because someone asks him?"

      "Love is a many splendor'd thing," Jijimon commented.

      "It can make you go crazy in the head," Babamon added.

      "Yeah!  Just look at her!" Jijimon chuckled as he pointed at Babamon.

      "Hey!  Don't make me come over there!" Babamon warned as she raised her fist as if she were waving her broom around instead of riding on it.

      "But would he be willing to help us against your 'savior'?" Renamon quickly asked.

      "Hmm...  It'd depend I guess," Jijimon mused thoughtfully.

      "How much would ya say Pandamon has the hots for your friend?" Babamon asked.

      "... Well..." Renamon began, carefully.  "He definitely seems to have an... almost unhealthy affection for him..."

      "Stalker!" Terriermon cackled.

      "Ah, one of those!" Jijimon nodded.

      "Heh, Jijimon used to stalk me when he was Wizarmon and I was Sorcerymon," Babamon chuckled.

      "Hey, only 'cause you took my staff," Jijimon commented as he looked at his wife.

      "I took your staff because you were peeping at me when I was taking a bath," Babamon returned, smirking.

      "... He wants to marry Tsuyosa?" Terriermon blinked.

      "..." Renamon held her tongue.

      "Weirder things have happened," Babamon shrugged.

      "Yeah, like us getting together," Jijimon teased.

      "Can we trust Pandamon?" Renamon asked.

      "Hey, if he's that obsessed, then I say it'll be impossible to get rid of him," Jijimon commented.

      "Yeah, just look at me," Babamon chuckled.  "I'm still stalked by this guy!"

      "Oi!  Who'd wanna stalk you when they know what you look like first thing in the morning?" Jijimon quipped.

      "Hey!  Look who's talkin'!  Your morning breath could stun a Greymon at 1000 paces!" Babamon returned.

      "But can we TRUST him?" Renamon repeated.  "Who's to say he won't abandon us and run away with Tsuyosa?"

      "In that case, I'd have'ta say no," Jijimon commented.  "Stalkers are crazy, and ya don't know what they're gonna do next."

      "Listen to him on this one.  He's an expert," Babamon smirked.

      "..." Renamon glanced at Terriermon.  "I suppose it is our only chance..."

      "Yeah," Terriermon sighed.

      "Oi!  There it is!" Jijimon pointed downwards.

      The clouds suddenly parted to expose the familiar pastel colored tent that was undoubtedly Pandamon's.  It sat down on the ground, a giant pentagram, as poles of streamers and balloons surrounded it.

      "Pandamonium Circus, dead ahead!" Babamon exclaimed as she and Jijimon flew downwards towards the large tent.

      "Did you have to use the world 'dead'?" Terriermon muttered.

      Terriermon's question went unanswered as the two Mega level digimon landed just outside the circus grounds.

      "Thank you for your help, Jijimon... Babamon," Renamon smiled at them, however slightly.  She hopped down from Babamon's broom and watched as Terriermon flopped down, rather gracelessly.

      "Oi, forget about it," Jijimon waved his hand dismissively.

      "Yeah, you're our friends!" Babamon smiled brightly.

      "And believe me, with a face like hers, she needs all the friends she can get," Jijimon chuckled as he pointed at Babamon.

      "Hey!  You better not mean me, Mister Break-Every-Mirror-In-The-House-Just-By-Lookin'-At-'Em," Babamon warned as she hefted her broom menacingly.

      "... Is that how Impmon and me act when we fight?" Terriermon whispered, quietly.  Renamon nodded, smirking.

      "Almost like a married couple," she added, with a hint of humor in her voice as she walked towards the tent.  "Anyway... we had best go see if Pandamon returned to the circus... or just wait until he comes back."

      "HEY!  Whoa!  Was that a joke!?" Terriermon cried, then darted to keep up with Renamon.

      The two left the quarreling Megas, as nothing the either of them could say would stop them for long anyway.  Instead, Renamon and Terriermon proceeded on to the circus grounds and towards the large tent.

      "It's so quiet," Renamon observed.

      "Is that a bad thing?" Terriermon looked about.  "Maybe they're all on a break?"

      "Perhaps," Renamon muttered.  "But very unlikely."

      "Nyaaaar."

      Terriermon's eyes widened as he recognized the sound.  "Black Tailmon!" he yowled and whirled towards the source.

      Black Tailmon stood behind them, swinging her hips as she glowered.  "What have we here?"

      "You!" Terriermon glared at Black Tailmon, still having not forgotten or forgiven what she did to Jenrya and himself in their last encounter.

      "You," Black Tailmon grinned at Terriermon, her expression not too friendly.

      "I still owe ya from before," Terriermon growled as he got ready to fight, regardless of the fact that Black Tailmon was a Champion and he was just a Rookie.

      "Is Pandamon here?" Renamon asked, slowly.

      "... Why?" Black Tailmon fixed Renamon with a gaze.  "Do you intend to hurt him some more, nyar?"

      "So he IS here!" Terriermon growled.

      "We have not harmed Pandamon," Renamon blinked.  "... May we see him?"

      "Not on your life," Black Tailmon spat.

      "... We do not want any trouble," Renamon muttered, suddenly sensing how dangerous the situation was.

      "You must have been so smug, huh," Black Tailmon hissed.  "Kidnapping Pandamon... holding him hostage...  I bet you enjoyed every minute of it."

      "We didn't kidnap him!  Your friend blew him up and out your portal along with the rest of us!" Terriermon snapped.

      "You held him prisoner, didn't you?" Black Tailmon crossed her arms and looked squarely at Terriermon.

      "Only because he woulda kidnapped Tsu if we didn't," Terriermon admitted, although his voice was angry.  "And we needed him to tell us where Shuichon and Lopmon are!"

      "You threatened him!" Black Tailmon pointed at Terriermon, accusingly.

      Renamon glanced between the two, blinking slowly.

      "Oh, like YOU'RE a Saint?!" Terriermon snapped.  "You kidnapped half the town's children and turned them into mindless zombies!"

      "Did you or did you NOT threaten him?" Black Tailmon fixed Terriermon with an almost unreadable expression.

      "What does that have to do with anything!?" Terriermon growled.

      "Yes... or... no." Black Tailmon glowered.

      "Terriermon...," Renamon began.

      "Are you too afraid to answer?" Black Tailmon asked, sweetly.  "Mnn, maybe you should be yellow instead of green, then?"

      "..." Renamon narrowed her eyes.

      "... Nyaaar," Black Tailmon smirked.  "Maybe I should ask JENRYA instead?"

      "... DON'T YOU TOUCH JEN!!!" Terriermon cried angrily, his paws clenching into fists.

      "Did you threaten Pandamon?" Black Tailmon asked.

      "Where's Jen!?" Terriermon demanded.  "So what if we threatened to violate Pandamon's personal space?!  If you don't tell us where Jen and the others are, we'll violate yours too!"

      "Nyaaaar," Black Tailmon grinned brightly.  "That's all I wanted to know."

      "What?" Renamon blinked slowly.

      Black Tailmon didn't respond as she stepped back and tilted her head.

      "NYAR."

      "BOMBS AWAY!"

      Suddenly there was the sound of multiple balloons popping before a large net dropped down upon Renamon and Terriermon.  Renamon crouched, eyes widening, as the net fell on top of her. She yelped as the net weighed her down, sticky like flypaper and clinging to her fur.  Terriermon yowled and struggled as the net stuck to him, but it only proved to further entangle him within the giant sticky net.

      Black Tailmon strode over to the two, swinging her hips.  "Good job, Opossomon," she purred.

      Opossomon giggled insanely as he landed next to Black Tailmon.  "You didn't do so bad yourself," he smirked.

      "You tricked us!" Renamon hissed.

      "LET US GO!" Terriermon snapped as he continued to struggle futilely.

      "Looks like we have two more for toilet duty!" Black Tailmon giggled.

      Opossomon smirked wickedly as he made a pair of black orbs appear.  "Good thing too, because Sheepmon ordered Mexican tonight," he giggled.

**_*~*_**

      The heavy rain poured down endlessly as Takato and Tsuyosa trudged through the muddy floodwaters.  The two wore the light plastic raincoats that they found in Tsuyosa's backpack, which proved to be helpful as the rain splattered against them.  They couldn't completely protect the two boys from the rain, however, as the water came up to their knees.

      "Is it just me... or is the water rising?" Tsuyosa muttered as he sloshed along.

      "I think it IS rising," Takato said as he glanced around.  "Because I remember a few minutes ago my knees were dry."  He felt absently thankful that he kept his D-Arc around his neck instead of hooked onto his side like most Tamers do.  He didn't want to risk getting it wet should the waters raise that high.

      "... Is the area... flooding?" Tsuyosa whispered, suddenly very nervous.

      "It must be," Takato swallowed.  "We better hurry and get to higher ground before it gets really bad!"

      "Right!" Tsuyosa nodded, then paused and pointed.  "Look!"

      Takato turned to look towards where Tsuyosa pointed, blinking.

      A thin path wound up the mountain, just off the trail.  It was littered with small pocket caves, the ones lower to the ground mostly flooded.  It seemed to rise upwards to the top of the mountain, almost as if it were ascending to the heavens.

      "Great!" Takato smiled at their good fortune.  "Let's try and get up as high as we can."

      "Yeah, we'd better hurry and-," Tsuyosa broke off with a squeak as thunder rumbled just as the rain grew twice as thick.

      Takato yelped in surprise, then quickly grabbed Tsuyosa's hand.  "Come on!" Takato yelled to be heard over the thunder and the pounding rain.  "We've got to hurry!"

      Tsuyosa nodded vigorously as he darted for the path with Takato, trying to keep up with the healthier boy.

      Takato hurried along as quickly as he could through the rising waters, blazing a trail for Tsuyosa.  They needed to get out of the rain and into a nice, safe, and dry cave as quickly as possible.

      Luckily, the waters had yet to reach the path itself.  The two darted up the path, escaping the rising waters with little difficulty as the path had such a small incline that slipping wasn't much of a threat.  The two quickly trudged up the mountainside as lightning lit up the sky and sent loud thunder vibrating through their bodies.

      "Yeeeeek...," Tsuyosa squeaked, breathlessly, as he followed Takato closely.

      "You okay?" Takato called loudly as he glanced back at Tsuyosa, trying to be heard over the booming thunder.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa replied, raising his voice.  "It just... sounds like it's getting closer!"

      Takato grimaced and tried to hurry Tsuyosa and himself along faster.

      "Takato!" Tsuyosa cried, suddenly.  "I see a small cave up ahead!  We should stop in it!"

      Takato looked around then spotted the cave that Tsuyosa had.  "I see it!" Takato answered loudly as he headed towards it.

      The cave was well above the water and completely dry, though the boys hoped the water didn't raise up high enough to flood it too.  They scrambled inside, thankful for the shelter from the hideous storm outside.

      Tsuyosa shivered, then slipped off his raincoat and scowled.  "Bah, my pants are soaked!"

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa then blushed and looked away because of how the water made Tsuyosa's pants cling to his body in almost obscene ways.  "Mine too," Takato muttered.

      "I guess I could light another log," Tsuyosa muttered, not noticing Takato's reaction.

      "Uh... Yeah," Takato nodded, embarrassed.

      Tsuyosa walked towards the middle of the cave, his sneakers squeaking noisily as they sloshed.  He took off his backpack and put it on the ground, leaning over to open it.

      Takato started to follow Tsuyosa when the other boy had suddenly bent over in front of him.  With a yelp, Takato quickly looked away, his face red because of the view he had been inadvertently given.

      Tsuyosa muttered as he searched through the backpack, then slowly lifted another paper-wrapped log.

      "This'll do," Tsuyosa grunted.  "But we'll have to save the rest for emergencies."

      Takato nodded as he kept his gaze trained on the rain outside the cave.  "Uh... right," he muttered.

      Tsuyosa stood up, then turned to look at Takato.  "Hm?  Something wrong?"

      "N-no!" Takato yelped, his face red, but his back was to Tsuyosa so the other boy couldn't see that.  "Just... wondering when the rain's gonna stop," he said quickly, resisting the urge to flinch at how lame his excuse sounded.

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blinked.  "... Well, I hope it stops soon...  We'll be flooded out if it doesn't!"

      Takato blinked, surprised that Tsuyosa accepted his excuse at face value.  He then remembered about ChibiBa's 'squirrel traps'.  Takato couldn't help but wonder about how naive Tsuyosa was.  "Yeah...," he muttered.

      "... There!" Tsuyosa grinned as he held a lit match to the log, causing it to burn slowly.  "That'll warm us up a bit."

      Takato nodded and peeked over his shoulder cautiously at Tsuyosa.  He let out a soft sigh as he saw that the other boy was no longer bent over, and quickly walked over to the fire to get warmed up as soon as possible.

      Tsuyosa sat down by the fire, then tugged irritably at his pants.  "I hate wet clothes...," he sighed.  "They cling and feel all sticky!"

      Takato blushed as he couldn't help but look at Tsuyosa's clinging pants, then quickly forced his gaze up to Tsuyosa's face.  "U-um...  H-how about you change again?" he suggested, trying not to look as embarrassed as he felt.

      "I can't," Tsuyosa sighed.  "My other pair isn't dry yet.  This is all I have."

      "O-oh," Takato muttered.  He closed his eyes, and tried not to think of Tsuyosa's clingy wet clothing.

      "I wonder," Tsuyosa blinked suddenly and glanced out of the cave.  "... What if this is where all the water's being dumped?  You know, from the other destroyed realms?"

      Takato blinked suddenly and then looked outside.  "... You know, that might be it," he said quietly.  "I mean... It never rained the last time we came to the Digital World...  I rarely ever saw any clouds while here even."

      "Maybe the Great Destruction made all the water evaporate and move around?  And this realm is the only place it can condense back in to water?  Maybe the air pressure here's just enough to let it happen?"

      "That... makes sense," Takato blinked slowly.  "I wonder how it's going to get back to the other realms though..."

      "Can water use data streams?" Tsuyosa pondered.  "It could randomly get transported, like we were!  Or maybe the realms all have drainage pipes of sorts, like we do when the water gets too high in some areas."

      "Well...  There was a pipe system kinda place that Jen, Terriermon, and me went through the last time we were here," Takato said thoughtfully as he tapped his chin.  "Maybe one of the ends leads here."

      "That'd make sense," Tsuyosa nodded, then blinked and looked at the fire intently.  "... You and Jenrya're really close, huh?"

      Takato blinked at the sudden change of topic.  "Uh, yeah, I guess so," he said, somewhat at a loss.

      "...," Tsuyosa hunched even closer, his expression suddenly unreadable.  "... I've always seen you two together...  You're rarely apart, unless something like this happens."

      "Well... he is my best friend," Takato blinked, wondering why Tsuyosa had brought up the topic.  "Next to Guilmon I mean."

      "..." Tsuyosa stared at the fire with an incredible force.  "... I see."

      "Why do you ask?"

      "... No reason," Tsuyosa muttered, his voice oddly monotone.  "Just wondering."

      Takato tilted his head slightly as he blinked, confused as to why Tsuyosa suddenly seemed to be acting so cold to him.  "Is something wrong, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked.

      "... No," Tsuyosa refused to look up.  "I was just curious.  You two must be very close."

      Takato paused as he looked at Tsuyosa.  Suddenly Takato realized that Tsuyosa must have been feeling jealous of Takato having close friends while he didn't.  "Well...  Yeah... but I'd like to get close to you too," he said quietly.  "And so would the others I bet, if you just let us."

      "..." Tsuyosa's expression seemed to melt slowly as his gaze softened.  "... Aren't you ever afraid?"

      "Of what?" Takato blinked.

      "... Of being hurt," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... People taking advantage of you... or leading you on like some hideous joke."

      Takato blinked blankly at Tsuyosa, the idea obviously foreign to him.  "Actually... I've never thought about it before," he admitted as he scratched his head.

      "... You're lucky.  Once you experience it, you can't STOP thinking about it," Tsuyosa muttered.  "Even if you wanted to."

      "..."  Takato scooted closer to Tsuyosa and wrapped his arm around the other boy's shoulders.  "Sometimes you've got to take a risk...," he said quietly.  "Or you'll be too scared to do anything."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned against Takato slightly, looking up at Takato.  "... I know...  I want to trust people...  I'm sure that Ruki, Jenrya, and the others are good people... but I'm just so scared..."

      "You don't have to be...  They won't hurt you," Takato said gently.

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered slightly.  "... Yeah..."

      Takato paused, silent as he mulled things over and thought about what Tsuyosa said.  "... What about me...?" Takato whispered.

      Tsuyosa paused, then looked back at the fire.  "... I... think... I already trust you."

      "I'm glad...," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa blushed lightly as a small, warm smile spread across his face.

      "... Me too..."


	40. All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go YaoiFre...

Authors' Notes:  As usual, we don't own Digimon... unfortunately...  ;_;  But Tsuyosa, Sera, and other fan characters ARE ours...  So even if you loooove them, you can't kidnap them!  They'd be very sad.

      Also, this story is ours so don't steal it to get into syndication and make millions off of this...  But if you know how to do that without getting sued, tell us, okay?  XD

      This chapter has been divided between normal uncensored yummy-ness, and censored, yaoi-free-ness.  In case you missed the marker at the top, you're in the yaoi-free version of the story, so there WON'T be boy/boy love in here.  If you feel deprived by having Digimon further censored that it reaches into fanfiction, then ya better go to the uncensored version!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 28: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Sera sighed as she slowly awakened from her slumber.  After stripping of her wet clothes and drying off, she had changed into another set of clothing a little more appropriate for colder climates: a thick sweater and jeans.  Her backpack had been thankfully waterproof and kept her clothing and other possessions from getting soaked.  After getting dry and dressed, it was decided that she'd rest and recover her strength while Beelzebumon went out and got some food for the two of them.

      Beelzebumon had been gone for quite a while, muttering about blowing holes in the ice and skewering fish with his tail.  Sera could only hope he didn't blow himself up in the process.

      Sera sat up slowly before stretching and letting out a tired yawn.  She rubbed her eyes and blinked repeatedly to rid the sleep from them.  She glanced around once her sight was no longer blurry, hoping that Beelzebumon finally returned.  She sighed heavily as she saw that the igloo was still empty.

      "I guess I should sleep some more until he gets back," she thought before she laid back down onto the bed.

      Sera closed her eyes after snuggling under the warm and thick covers, then tried to concentrate on going back to sleep.  It seemed as if sleep would come harder for her a second time as thoughts of what had occurred before they all left for the Digital World flittered through her mind.

      Sera blushed heavily, her hand moving to touch her lips, as she remembered what she had confessed to Impmon and what she had done immediately after that.  She could barely believe that she had been so bold, but Impmon had been so vulnerable that she couldn't keep her feelings back any longer.

      She frowned a little as she also remembered his reaction to her confession and actions.

      Sera sighed and snuggled closer under the blankets, curling up slightly.  She couldn't help but think that she really screwed up in confessing her feelings to Impmon at the wrong time, if there ever was a right time to do it to begin with.

      WHAM!

      "DAMN FISH!  WHAT THE HELL THEY RUNNIN' FOR!?"

      Sera yelped loudly and sat up instantly at the loud noise and yelling, whirling towards the source.

      Beelzebumon stormed in to the room after effectively venting on the defenseless door, covered from head to toe in snow.  He stormed over to the heater, shivering repeatedly, as he gave a mighty shake and discarded at least a foot of snow from his person.  The door slowly slid shut behind him, dented due to the Mega's foul mood, as Beelzebumon proceeded to strip himself of the icy, wet clothes.  He had totally forgotten Sera was there for the moment, far too angry about the fish to notice much else.

      "You'd think they'd be a little more GENEROUS and let me KILL THEM!" Beelzebumon spat as he dropped his jacket to the floor and unzipped his bodysuit.  "Instead of makin' a guy fall in and NEARLY FREEZE TO DEATH!"

       Sera let out a sigh of relief as it was just Beelzebumon making all the noise, then blinked repeatedly.  Her eyes widened and she let out a squeaking yelp of surprise as she stared at him as he quickly stripped himself of all his clothes in front of her.

      "Eh?" Beelzebumon blinked, then tilted his head to peer back.  "...?"

      That's when he remembered Sera was there.

      "... AAAACK!!!" Beelzebumon shrieked as he fell over.

      Sera continued to stare as she made small squeaking sound of surprise and embarrassment, her face incredibly red.  Her mind seemed to lock up at the sight of Beelzebumon naked, as she couldn't do anything more than that.

      Beelzebumon shrieked and scrambled for the door, diving outside and out of sight.

      In to the snow, in fact.

      Beelzebumon realized THAT fact the moment he made it outside.

      A few tense moments passed before he knocked on the door very slowly.

      "B-B-Beel...zebu...mon...?" Sera blinked slowly as her mind started to work again.  She slid out of the bed and walked to the door, torn between embarrassment and concern for her partner.  Concern won out, however, and she opened the door to let Beelzebumon back inside.

      Beelzebumon stood there shivering as his tail wrapped around his waist, his wings hugging himself.

      "...  ...  ..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "I'm cold."

      "..."  Sera stepped back a bit, giving Beelzebumon room to walk in.  "C-c-come b-back in," she muttered, her voice squeaking as a dark blush stained her cheeks.

      Beelzebumon shuffled inside, looking quite cold and naked.  "..."

      Sera closed the door behind him and stared at it a few moments, taking some deep and calming breaths.

      Beelzebumon sat down in front of the heater and hunched towards it, trying desperately to hide the fact that he was greatly embarrassed.

      "..."

      Sera turned back towards Beelzebumon after she thought she got her emotions, and her hormones, under control, but the sight of him naked proved her wrong.  She forced herself to continue to function as best she could in spite of that fact, however, and walked over to her backpack.  Silently she unzipped it and pulled out a large thermal blanket.  Shakily, she walked up behind him and timidly wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and wings.  She concentrated on avoiding looking at his bare skin as much as possible, because if she did, she wouldn't be able to think clearly again.

      "H-here...," she mumbled quietly, a tiny tremor in her voice.

      "... Th-thank you," Beelzebumon replied, his voice unnaturally high pitched as he pulled the blanket around him.

      "Y-you're welcome...," Sera muttered as she looked away from Beelzebumon, both to spare him from embarrassment and to keep herself restrained from doing... something; she had no idea what.

      "...  ..."  Beelzebumon slowly hung his jacket and bodysuit near the heater to dry them, clinging to the blanket almost desperately.  "... I didn't get any fish."

      "I-it's okay," Sera said quietly, trying to stop the stammer in her voice.  "I-I'm not hungry anyway...  Besides... I-I brought emergency rations...  It's not much, but..."

      "..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "..."

      "I... I'll get some for you."  Sera walked back over to her backpack, figuring Beelzebumon was hungry after his ordeal.  Quietly she rooted through her bag, pulling out small bags of snack foods and a couple instant meals.

      "..." Beelzebumon peered over his shoulder at Sera.  "... Um... Sera?"

      "Y-yeah?" Sera blinked as she glanced at Beelzebumon, her face still flushed.

      "..."

      "What is it?" Sera blinked slowly, setting the food down next to her backpack.

      "... I think my butt's frozen to the floor."

**_*~*_**

      "That's it!  I've had it!"

      Jenrya looked up from the scarf he was folding towards Ruki who was visibly fuming.

      "We've been folding scarves for HOURS," Ruki hissed.  "HOURS!  There's no end!"

      Jenrya sighed heavily as he surveyed the apparently endless room, filled with mounds of folded scarves, and piles of ones that weren't.  "I know, but what can we do about it?" he asked, looking at Ruki.

      "Escape," Ruki fixed Jenrya with a gaze.  "Now."

      "Do you have an idea?" Jenrya blinked at Ruki, apparently unfazed by her gaze.

      "Yes," Ruki grinned wolfishly, then pointed at the chains.  "Watch this."

      Jenrya blinked and watched Ruki and the chains curiously.

      Ruki leaned down, grabbled the shackle...

      ... and opened it.

      "..." Jenrya eyes widened as he boggled.  "You mean it was unlocked this entire time?!"

      "Yes," Ruki replied.  "I noticed it earlier... they've been playing a mind game with us!"

      "... And you picked NOW to unlock it?" Jenrya blinked, somewhat agitated.  "Why didn't you say or do anything before?"

      "Because we weren't alone," Ruki smirked, evilly.  "They were watching us... but our so-called GUARDS went off to eat popcorn."

      "Oh," Jenrya nodded.  "Well, what're we waiting for?  Let's go find our D-Arcs and get outta here!"

      Ruki nodded and stood up, heading towards the tent flap.

      "Then I'm gonna ram my foot up that Pandamon's fuzzy ass!" Ruki growled.

      Jenrya followed suit once he opened up his shackle, trying to move as silently as possible.

      Ruki stormed silently, radiating hatred, as she approached the storage tent opening and strode out the flap.  Jenrya took a more cautious approach, keeping a sharp look out for any members of the circus that could be around.

      However, neither Tamer was prepared for what awaited them outside the tent.

      A giant brick wall stood in front of them, with the word "GOTCHA" painted on it in bright red.  Beneath the words were doodles of mocking smiley faces that looked suspiciously like two certain digimon.

      "..."

      "What?!" Jenrya gasped.

      "Took you a while, didn't it?  Nyaaaar!"

      "Ehehehehehe!  Stupid humans!  They can't tell a door from a brick wall!"

      Jenrya and Ruki whirled to face Black Tailmon and Opossomon, who were smirking in amusement at the two Tamers.

       Black Tailmon tilted her head and smirked, cutely.  "Did it really take you this long to realize that you weren't locked up?"

      Opossomon let out a high-pitched, maniacal cackle as he juggled a pair of black orbs with one of his paws.  "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" he practically sang mockingly.

      "Heh, heh, heh!" Black Tailmon tapped her chin.  "You'd HAVE to be pretty stupid to do what they did to Pandamon.  That was just asking for trouble!"

      "Prepare for trouble!" Opossomon smirked.  "And make it double!"  With that he tossed one of his orbs at the Tamers.

      Ruki yelped as she caught the orb easily, then paled as it popped to reveal a toilet bowl brush.  Jenrya blinked and yelped also as Opossomon tossed the remaining orb at him as well.  As he caught the orb instinctively, it popped to reveal a large plunger.

      "You've got toilet duty!" Black Tailmon cackled.

      "And you better be good at holding your breaths," Opossomon grinned like a shark.  "Sheepmon had BURRITOS last night."

      "..." Ruki blinked, then turned to stare at Jenrya.

      "..." Jenrya glanced back at Ruki.

      "Nyaaaaar."

      "Ehehehehehe!"

**_*~*_**

      "Oi!  You fly too slow!"

      "No I don't!  You fly too fast, ya old fart!"

      "Bah, back broom driver!"

      "I'm just sick of looking at your sorry behind!"

      "Them's fighting words!"

      "You better believe it!  Just wait until we land!"

      "Please don't fight... we're quite a ways off the ground and I do not want to fall."

      "Don't they EVER stop?" Terriermon moaned quietly.  He sat behind Jijimon on his staff, gripping the weapon's handle tightly with his ears so as not to fall off.

      Renamon shook her head in response as she sat, delicately, on Babamon's broom.

      "BAH!  I can take you any time!  Land or air, you old coot!"

      "COOT?!  I'll give you coot!"

      "H-HEY!  Don't fight up here!" Terriermon yelped.  "We'll all go crashing to the ground!"

      "Tell me... do you think Pandamon will really help us?" Renamon asked, trying to divert their attention.  "I understand a crush is powerful, but would he really be willing to do something so dangerous just because someone asks him?"

      "Love is a many splendor'd thing," Jijimon commented.

      "It can make you go crazy in the head," Babamon added.

      "Yeah!  Just look at her!" Jijimon chuckled as he pointed at Babamon.

      "Hey!  Don't make me come over there!" Babamon warned as she raised her fist as if she were waving her broom around instead of riding on it.

      "But would he be willing to help us against your 'savior'?" Renamon quickly asked.

      "Hmm...  It'd depend I guess," Jijimon mused thoughtfully.

      "How much would ya say Pandamon has the hots for your friend?" Babamon asked.

      "... Well..." Renamon began, carefully.  "He definitely seems to have an... almost unhealthy affection for him..."

      "Stalker!" Terriermon cackled.

      "Ah, one of those!" Jijimon nodded.

      "Heh, Jijimon used to stalk me when he was Wizarmon and I was Sorcerymon," Babamon chuckled.

      "Hey, only 'cause you took my staff," Jijimon commented as he looked at his wife.

      "I took your staff because you were peeping at me when I was taking a bath," Babamon returned, smirking.

      "... He wants to marry Tsuyosa?" Terriermon blinked.

      "..." Renamon held her tongue.

      "Weirder things have happened," Babamon shrugged.

      "Yeah, like us getting together," Jijimon teased.

      "Can we trust Pandamon?" Renamon asked.

      "Hey, if he's that obsessed, then I say it'll be impossible to get rid of him," Jijimon commented.

      "Yeah, just look at me," Babamon chuckled.  "I'm still stalked by this guy!"

      "Oi!  Who'd wanna stalk you when they know what you look like first thing in the morning?" Jijimon quipped.

      "Hey!  Look who's talkin'!  Your morning breath could stun a Greymon at 1000 paces!" Babamon returned.

      "But can we TRUST him?" Renamon repeated.  "Who's to say he won't abandon us and run away with Tsuyosa?"

      "In that case, I'd have'ta say no," Jijimon commented.  "Stalkers are crazy, and ya don't know what they're gonna do next."

      "Listen to him on this one.  He's an expert," Babamon smirked.

      "..." Renamon glanced at Terriermon.  "I suppose it is our only chance..."

      "Yeah," Terriermon sighed.

      "Oi!  There it is!" Jijimon pointed downwards.

      The clouds suddenly parted to expose the familiar pastel colored tent that was undoubtedly Pandamon's.  It sat down on the ground, a giant pentagram, as poles of streamers and balloons surrounded it.

      "Pandamonium Circus, dead ahead!" Babamon exclaimed as she and Jijimon flew downwards towards the large tent.

      "Did you have to use the world 'dead'?" Terriermon muttered.

      Terriermon's question went unanswered as the two Mega level digimon landed just outside the circus grounds.

      "Thank you for your help, Jijimon... Babamon," Renamon smiled at them, however slightly.  She hopped down from Babamon's broom and watched as Terriermon flopped down, rather gracelessly.

      "Oi, forget about it," Jijimon waved his hand dismissively.

      "Yeah, you're our friends!" Babamon smiled brightly.

      "And believe me, with a face like hers, she needs all the friends she can get," Jijimon chuckled as he pointed at Babamon.

      "Hey!  You better not mean me, Mister Break-Every-Mirror-In-The-House-Just-By-Lookin'-At-'Em," Babamon warned as she hefted her broom menacingly.

      "... Is that how Impmon and me act when we fight?" Terriermon whispered, quietly.  Renamon nodded, smirking.

      "Almost like a married couple," she added, with a hint of humor in her voice as she walked towards the tent.  "Anyway... we had best go see if Pandamon returned to the circus... or just wait until he comes back."

      "HEY!  Whoa!  Was that a joke!?" Terriermon cried, then darted to keep up with Renamon.

      The two left the quarreling Megas, as nothing the either of them could say would stop them for long anyway.  Instead, Renamon and Terriermon proceeded on to the circus grounds and towards the large tent.

      "It's so quiet," Renamon observed.

      "Is that a bad thing?" Terriermon looked about.  "Maybe they're all on a break?"

      "Perhaps," Renamon muttered.  "But very unlikely."

      "Nyaaaar."

      Terriermon's eyes widened as he recognized the sound.  "Black Tailmon!" he yowled and whirled towards the source.

      Black Tailmon stood behind them, swinging her hips as she glowered.  "What have we here?"

      "You!" Terriermon glared at Black Tailmon, still having not forgotten or forgiven what she did to Jenrya and himself in their last encounter.

      "You," Black Tailmon grinned at Terriermon, her expression not too friendly.

      "I still owe ya from before," Terriermon growled as he got ready to fight, regardless of the fact that Black Tailmon was a Champion and he was just a Rookie.

      "Is Pandamon here?" Renamon asked, slowly.

      "... Why?" Black Tailmon fixed Renamon with a gaze.  "Do you intend to hurt him some more, nyar?"

      "So he IS here!" Terriermon growled.

      "We have not harmed Pandamon," Renamon blinked.  "... May we see him?"

      "Not on your life," Black Tailmon spat.

      "... We do not want any trouble," Renamon muttered, suddenly sensing how dangerous the situation was.

      "You must have been so smug, huh," Black Tailmon hissed.  "Kidnapping Pandamon... holding him hostage...  I bet you enjoyed every minute of it."

      "We didn't kidnap him!  Your friend blew him up and out your portal along with the rest of us!" Terriermon snapped.

      "You held him prisoner, didn't you?" Black Tailmon crossed her arms and looked squarely at Terriermon.

      "Only because he woulda kidnapped Tsu if we didn't," Terriermon admitted, although his voice was angry.  "And we needed him to tell us where Shuichon and Lopmon are!"

      "You threatened him!" Black Tailmon pointed at Terriermon, accusingly.

      Renamon glanced between the two, blinking slowly.

      "Oh, like YOU'RE a Saint?!" Terriermon snapped.  "You kidnapped half the town's children and turned them into mindless zombies!"

      "Did you or did you NOT threaten him?" Black Tailmon fixed Terriermon with an almost unreadable expression.

      "What does that have to do with anything!?" Terriermon growled.

      "Yes... or... no." Black Tailmon glowered.

      "Terriermon...," Renamon began.

      "Are you too afraid to answer?" Black Tailmon asked, sweetly.  "Mnn, maybe you should be yellow instead of green, then?"

      "..." Renamon narrowed her eyes.

      "... Nyaaar," Black Tailmon smirked.  "Maybe I should ask JENRYA instead?"

      "... DON'T YOU TOUCH JEN!!!" Terriermon cried angrily, his paws clenching into fists.

      "Did you threaten Pandamon?" Black Tailmon asked.

      "Where's Jen!?" Terriermon demanded.  "So what if we threatened to violate Pandamon's personal space?!  If you don't tell us where Jen and the others are, we'll violate yours too!"

      "Nyaaaar," Black Tailmon grinned brightly.  "That's all I wanted to know."

      "What?" Renamon blinked slowly.

      Black Tailmon didn't respond as she stepped back and tilted her head.

      "NYAR."

      "BOMBS AWAY!"

      Suddenly there was the sound of multiple balloons popping before a large net dropped down upon Renamon and Terriermon.  Renamon crouched, eyes widening, as the net fell on top of her. She yelped as the net weighed her down, sticky like flypaper and clinging to her fur.  Terriermon yowled and struggled as the net stuck to him, but it only proved to further entangle him within the giant sticky net.

      Black Tailmon strode over to the two, swinging her hips.  "Good job, Opossomon," she purred.

      Opossomon giggled insanely as he landed next to Black Tailmon.  "You didn't do so bad yourself," he smirked.

      "You tricked us!" Renamon hissed.

      "LET US GO!" Terriermon snapped as he continued to struggle futilely.

      "Looks like we have two more for toilet duty!" Black Tailmon giggled.

      Opossomon smirked wickedly as he made a pair of black orbs appear.  "Good thing too, because Sheepmon ordered Mexican tonight," he giggled.

**_*~*_**

      The heavy rain poured down endlessly as Takato and Tsuyosa trudged through the muddy floodwaters.  The two wore the light plastic raincoats that they found in Tsuyosa's backpack, which proved to be helpful as the rain splattered against them.  They couldn't completely protect the two boys from the rain, however, as the water came up to their knees.

      "Is it just me... or is the water rising?" Tsuyosa muttered as he sloshed along.

      "I think it IS rising," Takato said as he glanced around.  "Because I remember a few minutes ago my knees were dry."  He felt absently thankful that he kept his D-Arc around his neck instead of hooked onto his side like most Tamers do.  He didn't want to risk getting it wet should the waters raise that high.

      "... Is the area... flooding?" Tsuyosa whispered, suddenly very nervous.

      "It must be," Takato swallowed.  "We better hurry and get to higher ground before it gets really bad!"

      "Right!" Tsuyosa nodded, then paused and pointed.  "Look!"

      Takato turned to look towards where Tsuyosa pointed, blinking.

      A thin path wound up the mountain, just off the trail.  It was littered with small pocket caves, the ones lower to the ground mostly flooded.  It seemed to rise upwards to the top of the mountain, almost as if it were ascending to the heavens.

      "Great!" Takato smiled at their good fortune.  "Let's try and get up as high as we can."

      "Yeah, we'd better hurry and-," Tsuyosa broke off with a squeak as thunder rumbled just as the rain grew twice as thick.

      Takato yelped in surprise, then quickly grabbed Tsuyosa's hand.  "Come on!" Takato yelled to be heard over the thunder and the pounding rain.  "We've got to hurry!"

      Tsuyosa nodded vigorously as he darted for the path with Takato, trying to keep up with the healthier boy.

      Takato hurried along as quickly as he could through the rising waters, blazing a trail for Tsuyosa.  They needed to get out of the rain and into a nice, safe, and dry cave as quickly as possible.

      Luckily, the waters had yet to reach the path itself.  The two darted up the path, escaping the rising waters with little difficulty as the path had such a small incline that slipping wasn't much of a threat.  The two quickly trudged up the mountainside as lightning lit up the sky and sent loud thunder vibrating through their bodies.

      "Yeeeeek...," Tsuyosa squeaked, breathlessly, as he followed Takato closely.

      "You okay?" Takato called loudly as he glanced back at Tsuyosa, trying to be heard over the booming thunder.

      "Y-yeah," Tsuyosa replied, raising his voice.  "It just... sounds like it's getting closer!"

      Takato grimaced and tried to hurry Tsuyosa and himself along faster.

      "Takato!" Tsuyosa cried, suddenly.  "I see a small cave up ahead!  We should stop in it!"

      Takato looked around then spotted the cave that Tsuyosa had.  "I see it!" Takato answered loudly as he headed towards it.

      The cave was well above the water and completely dry, though the boys hoped the water didn't raise up high enough to flood it too.  They scrambled inside, thankful for the shelter from the hideous storm outside.

      Tsuyosa shivered, then slipped off his raincoat and scowled.  "Bah, my pants are soaked!"

      "Mine too," Takato muttered.

      "I guess I could light another log," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "Uh... Yeah," Takato nodded.

      Tsuyosa walked towards the middle of the cave, his sneakers squeaking noisily as they sloshed.  He took off his backpack and put it on the ground, leaning over to open it.

      Tsuyosa muttered as he searched through the backpack, then slowly lifted another paper-wrapped log.

      "This'll do," he grunted.  "But we'll have to save the rest for emergencies."

      Takato nodded as he kept his gaze trained on the rain outside the cave.  "Uh... right," he muttered.

      Tsuyosa stood up, then turned to look at Takato.  "Hm?  Something wrong?"

      "Just... wondering when the rain's gonna stop."

      "Oh," Tsuyosa blinked.  "... Well, I hope it stops soon...  We'll be flooded out if it doesn't!"

      "Yeah...," Takato muttered.

      "... There!" Tsuyosa grinned as he held a lit match to the log, causing it to burn slowly.  "That'll warm us up a bit."

      Takato nodded and peeked over his shoulder at Tsuyosa.  He let out a soft sigh and quickly walked over to the fire to get warmed up as soon as possible.

      Tsuyosa sat down by the fire, then tugged irritably at his pants.  "I hate wet clothes...," he sighed.  "They cling and feel all sticky!"

      "H-how about you change again?" Takato suggested.

      "I can't," Tsuyosa sighed.  "My other pair isn't dry yet.  This is all I have."

      "O-oh," Takato muttered and closed his eyes.

      "I wonder," Tsuyosa blinked suddenly and glanced out of the cave.  "... What if this is where all the water's being dumped?  You know, from the other destroyed realms?"

      Takato blinked suddenly and then looked outside.  "... You know, that might be it," he said quietly.  "I mean... It never rained the last time we came to the Digital World..."

      "Maybe the Great Destruction made all the water evaporate and move around?  And this realm is the only place it can condense back in to water?  Maybe the air pressure here's just enough to let it happen?"

      "That... makes sense," Takato blinked slowly.  "I wonder how it's going to get back to the other realms though..."

      "Can water use data streams?" Tsuyosa pondered.  "It could randomly get transported, like we were!  Or maybe the realms all have drainage pipes of sorts, like we do when the water gets too high in some areas."

      "Well...  There was a pipe system kinda place that Jen, Terriermon, and me went through the last time we were here," Takato said thoughtfully as he tapped his chin.  "Maybe one of the ends leads here."

      "That'd make sense," Tsuyosa nodded, then blinked and looked at the fire intently.  "... You and Jenrya're really close, huh?"

      Takato blinked at the sudden change of topic.  "Uh, yeah, I guess so," he said, somewhat at a loss.

      "...," Tsuyosa hunched even closer, his expression suddenly unreadable.  "... I've always seen you two together...  You're rarely apart, unless something like this happens."

      "Well... he is my best friend," Takato blinked, wondering why Tsuyosa had brought up the topic.  "Next to Guilmon I mean."

      "..." Tsuyosa stared at the fire with an incredible force.  "... I see."

      "Why do you ask?"

      "... No reason," Tsuyosa muttered, his voice oddly monotone.  "Just wondering."

      Takato tilted his head slightly as he blinked, confused as to why Tsuyosa suddenly seemed to be acting so cold to him.  "Is something wrong, Tsuyosa?" Takato asked.

      "... No," Tsuyosa refused to look up.  "I was just curious.  You two must be very close."

      Takato paused as he looked at Tsuyosa.  Suddenly Takato realized that Tsuyosa must have been feeling jealous of Takato having close friends while he didn't.  "Well...  Yeah... but I'd like to get close to you too," he said quietly.  "And so would the others I bet, if you just let us."

      "..." Tsuyosa's expression seemed to melt slowly as his gaze softened.  "... Aren't you ever afraid?"

      "Of what?" Takato blinked.

      "... Of being hurt," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... People taking advantage of you... or leading you on like some hideous joke."

      Takato blinked blankly at Tsuyosa, the idea obviously foreign to him.  "Actually... I've never thought about it before," he admitted as he scratched his head.

      "... You're lucky.  Once you experience it, you can't STOP thinking about it," Tsuyosa muttered.  "Even if you wanted to."

      "..."  Takato scooted closer to Tsuyosa.  "Sometimes you've got to take a risk...," he said quietly.  "Or you'll be too scared to do anything."

      "..." Tsuyosa looked up at Takato.  "... I know...  I want to trust people...  "I'm sure that Ruki, Jenrya, and the others are good people... but I'm just so scared..."

      "You don't have to be...  They won't hurt you," Takato said gently.

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered slightly.  "... Yeah..."

      Takato paused, silent as he mulled things over and thought about what Tsuyosa said.  "... What about me...?" Takato whispered.

      Tsuyosa paused, then looked back at the fire.  "... I... think... I already trust you."

      "I'm glad...," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa.

      A small, warm smile spread across Tsuyosa's face.

      "... Me too..."


	41. Confusing Love

Authors' Notes: As we said so many times before, we don't own Digimon... but we do own this story, Sera, Tsu, and any fan characters mentioned!

      Please don't steal them! ;_;

      Sorry about this chapter being late, but we wanted to make extra sure that it was ready for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!

      This is the full version... so if you don't like yaoi, you should go to the censored version!  Go on, miss all the angst and touching moments!  *sniffle* ;_;

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 29: Confusing Love_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Beelzebumon sat by the heater, wrapped up tightly in the blanket as he sat on a warmed towel.  Earlier, Sera had given him the towel to try and warm up his skin after his rear had frozen to the floor.  After many tough minutes of humiliation, the ice finally released him and Beelzebumon decided to use the towel as a seat to avoid similar instances from happening again.

      Sera sat on the bed as she stared out the window, her face flushed.  After helping free Beelzebumon from the floor, she opted to keep her distance from him, both to save him from embarrassment and because the sight of the virtually naked Mega was almost too much for her to handle.  She silently waited for him to warm up and his clothes to dry, unable to think of anything to say to ease the tension between them.  The situation was very embarrassing for both of them.

      But more so for Beelzebumon, she imagined.  He was the one whose butt froze to the floor.

      Beelzebumon sighed, and then eyed his clothes.  They were still dripping wet, though the water was warm due to the heater.

      However, he wanted the clothes dry, not warmly wet.

      Sera glanced over at Beelzebumon when she heard him sigh, her blush deepening at the sight of him; even with his back to her and his body mostly covered with a large thermal blanket.  "... How are you doing?" she asked at last, breaking the tense silence that had been hanging between them.

      "..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "My clothes are still wet."

      "... Oh," Sera muttered, blushing.

      "..." Beelzebumon shifted.  "... It won't take much longer."

      "... That's good," Sera said quietly.  She fidgeted slightly as, while she was embarrassed over it, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret that Beelzebumon would be fully dressed soon.  He had a beautiful body after all.

      Sera blushed at such thoughts and lightly slapped her cheeks in an attempt to clear them from her mind.

      Beelzebumon shifted slightly, then grunted deep in his throat.  "Ow."

      "Huh?" Sera blinked as she looked up at Beelzebumon.  "What's wrong?"

      "... My butt's sore,"

      "Oh," Sera squeaked as she blushed harder.  "... Isn't the towel working...?"

      "Yes," Beelzebumon coughed.  "But, um, it's sore from when it was stuck."

      "O-oh," Sera flushed.

      "..." Beelzebumon turned to stare at the heater.  "... If the others knew what happened, I'd never hear the end of it."

      "D-don't worry...  It'll be our little secret...," Sera muttered.

      "Good...," Beelzebumon coughed.  "Tough guys don't get their butts frozen to the ground."

      "Well...  I guess it can happen to anyone...  I mean...  Life's not perfect...," Sera shrugged slightly, realizing what she was saying probably didn't help Beelzebumon's ego any.

      "... I'm perfect!" Beelzebumon replied, sulkily.

      "..."  Sera couldn't help herself, and giggled lightly.

      "... What's so funny?!" Beelzebumon demanded.

      "Nothing," Sera said as she forced herself to stop giggling, trying to keep a straight face.

      "..." Beelzebumon eyed her, suspiciously.

      Sera shook slightly in an attempt to hold back the urge to giggle again and smiled crookedly.  In spite of the embarrassment, the situation was funny in a strange sort of way.

      Beelzebumon blinked, then started to chuckle himself.  "... I guess it is kind of funny," he admitted.

      "Yeah," Sera giggled, unable to hold it back anymore.

      Beelzebumon chuckled deeply, before he could stop himself, and grinned at Sera.  "Just a little, though!" he winked.

      Sera giggled even louder at that and smiled back at Beelzebumon.  "Right," she giggled.

      Beelzebumon sighed and snuggled in the blanket once his laughter died down, then stared at the heater.

      Sera sighed as well once she had stopped giggling, and looked at Beelzebumon.  She was still blushing at the sight of him, but the laughter had been oddly therapeutic, and seemed to make things more comfortable between them.  It also brought her to a realization.

      Despite the different body and name, and despite how awkward she felt around him in this form, Beelzebumon was still Impmon, her partner.

      The person she loved.

      Sera wrung her hands nervously, suddenly felt with the urgent need to know how Beelzebumon felt about her.  She had no idea how he felt; especially after his reaction to what she had done when he was Impmon and they were in the Real World.  She had confessed her feelings because she thought that would make things easier between them, and bring them closer, but instead it seemed as if it caused him to distance himself even more from her emotionally.  She couldn't help but wonder if it was because of his experiences with Ai and Makoto made him react that way, or if it was the thought of her feeling that way towards him that did it.

      Sera couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to it than just her cousins considering what he had said about her needing to be protected from him.  Considering what had happened with Ai and Makoto, it would have made more sense for it to be the other way around.

      Unfortunately, Sera had no clue as to what else could be troubling Beelzebumon.  Either it was just her, or something else had happened that she didn't know about.  Both were just as likely.

      Gathering her courage, Sera slowly slid off the bed and stood up.

      She needed to know how he felt.  One way or the other.

      Beelzebumon sat with his back to Sera, holding the blanket closer as he watched the heater.  He sighed quietly to himself.  He didn't want to alienate Sera but, deep down, he knew it was for the best.  He had never forgiven himself for what he did to Juri and Leomon, even if Juri herself had.  The memory of when he stabbed killed Leomon still haunted him.  He could still vividly see it in his mind's eye as if it had only happened yesterday instead of about half a year ago.

      Beelzebumon almost wished for the days when he didn't care what the consequences were for his actions.  Things seemed so simple then, but he knew that no matter how much he convinced himself otherwise, he did care.

      He was terrified that he might hurt someone else like he had Juri.  The thought that the 'someone else' in question was Sera downright terrified him.

      "... Beelzebumon...?"

      Beelzebumon jumped almost a mile high before he glanced over his shoulder to see Sera standing nervously behind him, her eyes switching between glancing at him and gazing at the floor.

      "... Yah?" Beelzebumon asked once he had calmed down from his surprise, suddenly dreading whatever it was Sera was going to ask him.

      Sera blinked; momentarily surprised at how Beelzebumon reacted to her calling his name, and suddenly felt even more nervous than before.  Trembling slightly, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before attempting to speak again.  She made sure to keep her eyes on her hands, which fidgeted nervously, because if she looked at her partner, she would more than likely lose her nerve, and be unable to continue.

      "... How... how do you... feel about... me...?" she asked quietly, her voice a timid whisper.  She had no idea how he'd answer, or even if he would answer, but it was a question she had to ask.  She couldn't help but fear what his answer might be, however.

      "..."  Beelzebumon blinked slowly as he considered what she had asked.  He didn't want to lie to her but he was afraid what telling the truth would do.  If he told her how he felt, what would he be exposing her to?  If he didn't tell her, however, then he knew he'd hurt her far worse.  His mind made up, he fidgeted.  His cheeks tinted slightly as he looked back at the heater and coughed.  "... I... care about you."

      "... I... I'm glad...," Sera whispered, a small smile appearing on her face as she looked up at Beelzebumon again.

      Beelzebumon nodded slightly, hoping Sera wouldn't press the subject.  He wasn't particularly fond of expressing his feelings.

      While Beelzebumon's answer relieved Sera quite a bit, she wasn't quite satisfied with it.  She closed her eyes and tried to gather all her courage, knowing that what she was about to say might be a big mistake.  "... I love you... Beelzebumon...," she said softly.  Strangely enough, the words were easier to say a second time, which helped make Sera feel a bit better about saying them.  She quickly decided to press on before she lost her nerve.  "Do... do you love... could... could you ever..."  She trailed off as an uncomfortable heat settled in her face and chest.  Her courage seemed to instantly evaporate, leaving her vulnerable and afraid.  She gripped her hands tightly together and shook her head.  "N-never... never mind... I shouldn't have asked..."

      Beelzebumon paled.  He was hoping she wouldn't ask him that sort of question.  He had been dreading the day she'd ask him but he supposed she'd want to know sooner or later.  He couldn't have kept on going forever without having to confront the subject.  He swallowed hard, then closed his eyes.  "I..." Beelzebumon took a deep breath, hoping she would understand him.  "... I'm not good at sayin' mushy crap like that..."

      "... It... it's... okay...  You don't... have to say it...," Sera managed to force out, her voice very quiet.  Her chest ached as she trembled slightly from her emotions.  "... I... I'm sorry... I shouldn't... shouldn't have asked..."

      "... I'm not good at mushy crap," Beelzebumon repeated.  "... I want to... but it just won't come.  It just won't."

      Sera blinked her eyes open and looked at Beelzebumon, a little surprised at his admission.  Nonetheless it made her feel somewhat better, as she had feared the worst.  "... Why...?" she asked softly, the question leaving her mouth before she could stop it.

      "... Why?" Beelzebumon repeated; surprised Sera even needed to ask.  He blinked slowly, and then shook his head.  "How COULD I...?"

      "... I'm sorry..."  Sera mentally kicked herself for being so stupid.  Of course she shouldn't have asked, because the obvious answer was Ai and Makoto.  After all they did to Beelzebumon, how could he ever let himself be that vulnerable emotionally again?

      "... Nuthin' to apologize for...," Beelzebumon muttered.  "I'm the big dumb Mega who can't say what he wants ta say..."

      "You're not dumb," Sera protested.  "I mean... anyone would react the way you did after what they... what happened to you...  I'm amazed at how strong you are... lasting through all that like you did..."  She faltered for a moment for what to say, not wanting to keep the subject related to her cousins longer than she had to.  "... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have forced the issue...  I mean... I should've known better..."

      "... Just 'cuz I can't say it doesn't mean I can't feel it..." Beelzebumon pointed out, weakly.

      Sera paused at Beelzebumon's words, feeling so many emotions, both good and bad, that they threatened to overwhelm her.  She wiped at her eyes, which had become uncomfortably damp, then smiled as best she could.  "... I understand...," she whispered before she sat down behind him, feeling the need to get closer to him.  "... You don't have to say it..."  She closed her eyes and leaned against him, shy yet bold at the same time.  "... I can wait... until you can..."

      "I want to say it...," Beelzebumon repeated, sighing.  "I just... can't make the words come out..."

      "It's okay...  You don't have to say it...," Sera repeated.  Blushing, she timidly wrapped her arms around Beelzebumon's waist in an attempt to comfort him.  "... Just knowing you feel that way... it's enough for me..."

      Beelzebumon twitched, then slowly relaxed against Sera as his cheeks flushed.  "... I... Sera..."

      "I love you... Beelzebumon...," Sera murmured, her voice slightly muffled as she pressed her face against his back.

      Beelzebumon blushed even brighter.  He wanted to tell her he felt the same way, but the words simply formed as lumps in his throat.  Instead, he simply swallowed and stared at the heater.  "... Don't hurt me... okay, Sera?"

      "Huh?" Sera blinked as she looked up at Beelzebumon, surprised by his sudden question.

      "... Don't... hurt me," Beelzebumon repeated, suddenly very self-conscious.  "Okay?"

      Sera paused for a moment as the question sunk in.  She closed her eyes again and hugged Beelzebumon closer, wanting to make him feel happy again.  "Okay...," she promised gently yet firmly.  "I promise...  I won't hurt you...  Not ever..."

      "... Thank you..." Beelzebumon whispered, his cheeks a brilliant red.

      Sera held Beelzebumon tightly, protectively, as she wanted to keep him close to her, and never let him get hurt again.  She wanted to prove to him, more than just with words, that she loved him, and wanted to make him happy.

      Beelzebumon said nothing, both unsure and afraid of what to say.  He enjoyed Sera's company immensely, even if he had problems saying so.  He didn't want to chase her away by saying something stupid.

      Instead, Beelzebumon simply turned his head to look at Sera quietly.

       Sera looked up at Beelzebumon for a few moments, the blush on her cheeks darkening.  Caught on an impulse to show her love, she leaned up and suddenly kissed him.

      Beelzebumon's eyes widened at the sudden kiss, his cheeks a brilliant red.  The kiss was soft and timid, as if Sera was uncertain if it was all right to do so.  The intimate contact only lasted for a moment before they separated.  He stared stupidly at her for a moment before a big, goofy grin crossed his face.

      "Uh... well... that's a start...," he managed to say, stupidly.

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed softly as he stared into the fire, almost transfixed, as he kept Tsuyosa close with one arm wrapped around the other boy's shoulders.  They sat together in comfortable, companionable silence, as the rain continued to pour in torrents from the skies outside of the cave, which was growing ever colder by the minute in spite of the fire.

      An occasional shiver ran through Tsuyosa's body as he sat, his pants still clinging to him with its cold, wet fabric.  He refused to say anything about it, however.  He didn't want Takato to worry about him or, even worse, pity him.

      He wanted so desperately to be helpful and a part of the team.  He wasn't just ChibiBa's Tamer; he was Tsuyosa.

      So why did he feel so useless?

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa and moved in closer to the other boy, trying to warm both of them with their combined body heat.  He worried about Tsuyosa getting sick from the chilly temperatures, especially because of how soaked he was.  The last thing Takato wanted was for something to happen to Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa set his jaw, trying desperately to ignore the cold seeping through his body.  Mentally cursing himself for being so fragile, he started chewing on his lower lip while willing himself to remain as calm and casual as possible.  Even Takato's warmth, though comforting, wasn't enough to draw his attention away from his wet, clinging pants.

      Idly Takato rubbed Tsuyosa's shoulder as he tried to sit as closely to the soaked boy as possible.  He thought about asking if Tsuyosa was okay a number of times, but didn't want to upset him.  Tsuyosa had made it very clear that he hated being thought of as a burden, and even a casual question of concern could hurt his feelings.

      Tsuyosa sighed quietly, and then leaned back against the wall slightly.  Something else bothered him, as well.  He closed his eyes, his mind whirling.  Everything was happening so fast.  He didn't know what to make of what he was feeling.  When he first met Takato, he hated him...

      No, that was wrong.  He never hated Takato.

      Tsuyosa opened his eyes and stared at the ground.

      He was always drawn to Takato, however slightly.  He didn't know why; he just was.  That fact had scared him.  All his life, he had been shunned.  It had gotten to the point where they kept their distance and he kept his.

      Suddenly, he saw Takato and found himself unable to do so.  He couldn't avoid the boy, even when trying to.  He wasn't sure if he was stalking Takato or if Takato was stalking him.

      Terrified of such a new development, Tsuyosa tried to scare away the other boy.  With a smirk on his face and a barrier in his heart, he tried to agitate Takato.  If Tsuyosa couldn't stay away from Takato, then Takato would stay away from Tsuyosa.

      However, it didn't work.

      Tsuyosa tilted his head and snickered humorlessly.  How could it have worked?  Everything relied on ChibiBa.  Without ChibiBa, he had no defense.  He found that out rather quickly...

      When caught alone at the circus that fateful day, Tsuyosa finally realized just how vulnerable he was.  Everything changed from that moment on, ever since he was chased down the streets for those hideous, terrifying minutes.  Talk didn't mean anything when it came right down to the basics.

      How could he be brave when he was nothing more than a sickly child with an attitude problem?

      "What's so funny, Tsuyosa?" Takato blinked, his voice interrupting Tsuyosa's train of thought.

      "A-ah?" Tsuyosa blinked, then glanced at Takato sheepishly.  "... Nothing...  I was just thinking..."

      "About what?" Takato asked curiously as he tilted his head slightly.

      "..." Tsuyosa almost said 'about how pathetic I am' but stopped himself.  Instead, he shrugged weakly.  "Just... you know... how we first met..."

      Takato cheeks flushed and he rubbed the back of his head.  "Oh, I see," he muttered, feeling sheepish all of a sudden.

      "... Yeah..."  Tsuyosa turned to look at the floor, trying to keep a level expression to hide how miserable he felt.  Before, Tsuyosa could make the mask so easily that it was frightening. He could hide any feeling behind a false expression of pure indifference.  No one could tell that they upset him, even when they were hurting him physically.  But now, it was so hard trying to recreate that protective barrier.  It just seemed so impossible; Takato always made him react despite it.  Takato could make him so angry he forgot he was trying to be calm and collected or so flustered he didn't know what to say.

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa silently for a few moments as the other boy looked away, and began to feel guilty.  "I...  Tsuyosa, I'm sorry about what happened... when we first met I mean...," Takato said softly.

      "... Why?" Tsuyosa blinked, caught off guard.  What had Takato done that he needed to apologize for?  Tsuyosa had been the instigator, not him!

      Takato blushed a bit deeper, flustered.  "Well... I tried to hurt you...," he muttered guiltily.  "If ChibiBa didn't stop me... I would have..."  He paused for a moment, as the incident at the circus came to mind.  "And... I'm sorry about the time I chased you..."

      "... I deserved it," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... There's nothing to apologize for..."

      Takato shook his head.  "No you didn't," he insisted.  "Even if you made me mad, that's no excuse for me to try and hurt you..."

      "... Heh," Tsuyosa smiled slightly.  "... I did deserve it... it made me see... what I really am... and that I shouldn't try to be something I'm not."

      "... Tsuyosa...," Takato muttered quietly, taken back by what Tsuyosa said.  He had no idea how to respond to that.

      "..."  Tsuyosa lowered his head, slightly.  "... That's why I can't stand up to Akkenai...  I can't do it anymore... because I know... I know that I can't do anything without ChibiBa."

      "That's not true!" Takato protested firmly.  "You can do things for yourself just like everyone else!"

      "... All right," Tsuyosa didn't look up.  "You're right.  I can DO it... but I'll just get beaten up or made fun of.  It doesn't mean anything...," Tsuyosa paused, then chuckled humorlessly.  "You know, it's like a small dog barking at someone...  It's more funny than threatening."

      "Tsuyosa... That's not true at all!"  Takato placed both of his hands on Tsuyosa's shoulders, shifting himself to face the other boy more fully.  "There's a lot you can do, and violence doesn't solve anything."  He paused, faltering for a moment as he remembered about why they were in the Digital World in the first place.  "Well... I mean... it does solve SOME things, but not everything, and only when there's no other option."  He let out a frustrated sigh, as the words in his head seemed to have trouble coming out the right way.  "You know what I'm trying to say, don't you?"

      Tsuyosa squeaked and looked at Takato, not having expected Takato to react so strongly against what he had said.  He paused, and then nodded slowly.  "... I know what you're trying to say... but it's not just violence... self defense... I mean...," Tsuyosa faltered, then lowered his gaze to the ground.  "... Back at the circus... what would have happened if you had caught me... if I wasn't having an attack...?"

      Takato faltered as well, taken back by Tsuyosa's question.  His shoulders slumped slightly as he felt a gnawing pit of guilt well up in his stomach.  He knew that if he had caught Tsuyosa, and the black-clad Tamer hadn't been having an attack, he would have attacked him in his blind rage.

      Takato didn't get angry very often, but when he did, he was like a berserker.

      "..."  Tsuyosa knew what Takato was thinking; it was something he had been thinking himself while running.  He remembered the terror he felt when he realized that Takato would have hurt him badly.  "... I wouldn't have been able to stop you, would I?" he muttered.  "I'm... not blaming you of anything, Takato...  I mean, it didn't happen... there's nothing to be ashamed of... but it just proves my point.  If you had caught me, I wouldn't have been able to stop you from doing anything you wanted to me."

      "... Tsuyosa...," was all Takato could say.

      "... Am I wrong?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.

      "I...," Takato faltered, his mind whirling as he tried to figure out what to say to prove Tsuyosa wrong despite how right the other boy was; at least in some respects.

      "..."  Tsuyosa felt bad about using Takato as an example. He hadn't meant to.  Instead, he decided to try another angle.  "... Look, what would happen if Akkenai decided to just drag me off somewhere to do whatever he wanted to me?  I couldn't stop him.  Not without ChibiBa.  Nothing I could do would stop him from... from... you know... doing things to me..."

      "But... you don't need to stop him by yourself...," Takato muttered, privately thankful for the change in example as it made it easier for him to think of what to say.  "You've got all of us, and we'll help you.  Besides... you can try reporting him to someone like the police and get him arrested."

      "... After it happens," Tsuyosa muttered.  "After I've been hurt and... and...  ...  Yes, I can call the police after the fact... but during...?  When he's...?  I wouldn't be able to do anything except scream."

      "..."  Takato cringed and shook his head violently.  "No!  That's not what I meant!"  Unconsciously he moved in closer to Tsuyosa, feeling the need to protect the other boy.  "I meant that you should report him to someone before that happens..."

      "... With what proof?" Tsuyosa muttered.  "I heard his father was Dean of the school...  Why would anyone at the school believe me?"

      "... Well...," Takato trailed off as he tried to figure out what to do about that situation.  "... Maybe you could ask for something to keep him away from you... maybe like a restraining order or something?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa shook his head.  "And if he ignores it...?"

      "... Uh... well..."  Takato faltered, trying to figure out what to do about the perverted teenager.  "... Maybe you should ask Sera what she does...?  I mean... she seems to deal with him a lot..."  Inwardly Takato winced, as he knew that answer was just a grasp at straws so to speak.

      "She hits him," Tsuyosa looked at Takato, levelly.

      "... Yeah, well..."  Takato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  "... That doesn't really help you know...  Which proves violence doesn't solve it..."  He blushed, knowing that he was probably completely messing up.

      "... But at least she stops him," Tsuyosa muttered.  "I can't...  I mean... if he tried to grab her and drag her off to... you know... she'd hit him and he'd stop.  ... If he tried to drag me off... I'd hit him and he'd probably beat me unconscious."

      "... But he doesn't hit her," Takato pointed out weakly.  "So... there's no reason to think he'd hit you..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered and curled up.  "... You haven't seen him when he's really mad have you?  I mean... he was about to hit you back at that race!  ... When... when some guys voiced an interest in dating Sera... he... he hurt them... he hurt them very badly.  I saw him...  I couldn't help them-!"  Tsuyosa covered his face.  "... ChibiBa ran and stopped him... but I... I was useless..."

      "..."  Takato didn't know what to say, so he remained silent as he thought hurriedly.  "... But... Akkenai doesn't hit HER... and... since he likes you too... wouldn't that mean... that he'd not hit you too...?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa looked at Takato.  He could tell that he was just upsetting Takato, so he decided to drop the subject.  He turned to stare at the ground, trying to swallow his fears and pain while fixing his mask.  There was no point in scaring Takato; he'd just suffer through it quietly himself.  "... Rather stormy, isn't it."

      "... Tsuyosa..."  Takato sighed softly as he looked at Tsuyosa, hating feeling helpless to cheer up the other boy and alleviate his fears.

      "... Yes?" Tsuyosa asked, his voice monotone.

      Takato sighed again at Tsuyosa's tone.  "... Just because you can't fight doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa closed his eyes.  "... Takato... it's easy to say that but... all my life... I..."

      "... You don't have to fight," Takato continued quietly.  "You can just try talking things out instead..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered.  "... Some people can't be reasoned with..."

      "I know... but you get help for people like that...," Takato muttered as he slipped his arm around Tsuyosa's shoulder, pulling him close again.  "... I mean... maybe you could ask you dad to do something...  Even if Akkenai's dad is the dean, your dad's a ton more important than that, you know?"

      "... But then I'm hiding behind my dad...," Tsuyosa muttered, weakly.  "Like I'm hiding behind ChibiBa..."

      "No you wouldn't!" Takato shook his head vehemently.  "EVERYBODY needs help sometimes!  You can stand up for yourself with those you can deal with... and with those you can't, you turn to the people you care about for help..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa was confused.  He looked at Takato, uncertain.  "... But what if you can't deal with ANYTHING yourself... and you always turn to other people for help...?"

      "That's just it...  You CAN deal with stuff yourself.  Like when you dealt with me... even though...," Takato trailed off.

      "..."  Tsuyosa wasn't sure how to respond.  He swallowed quietly.  "... Maybe..."

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa for a few long moments as he tried to figure out what to say.  Silently, he leaned in closer against Tsuyosa so and drew the other boy into a gentle hug.  "... Tsuyosa... you're a very strong person...  You've been through a lot... and you've still been able to get through it okay..."

      Tsuyosa squeaked slightly as he was held close, then blushed.  He didn't dare move due to how close they where, though he had to admit he rather liked it.  He closed his eyes and tried to focus his thoughts.

      "... Takato...?" he whispered.  "... Did you ever... hate me?"

      Takato was taken back at the question, but didn't hesitate in answering it.  "Of course not!"  Inwardly he flinched at his raised voice, and spoke more quietly, tenderly.  "... I could never hate you...  Even when I was angry at you... and you drove me crazy...  I still couldn't hate you..."

      "... Takato, I...," Tsuyosa fumbled.  He wanted to say something, anything at all to try and tell Takato what he was feeling.  "... I... didn't hate you... either..."

      "I'm glad...," Takato mumbled as he rested his cheek against Tsuyosa's forehead.  He blushed deeply as he enjoyed holding the one he cared about so close and snugly in his arms.

      Tsuyosa blushed very brightly as well, his body tingling at being so close.  His mind whirled with thoughts and emotions, fumbling to find what to say.

      "Takato... I... I..." Tsuyosa fumbled, trying to collect his thoughts but ultimately failing.

      "Yes?" Takato mumbled against Tsuyosa's hair.  Idly he enjoyed the sweet scent of Tsuyosa's hair, which smelled a bit like flowers, most likely due to his shampoo.  There was some other quality to it too, one that made Takato feel oddly good.

      "I... I..."  Tsuyosa felt a shiver run up his spine as Takato mumbled against his hair, tickling him rather pleasantly.  "I... love you..." Tsuyosa blurted out.  Seconds after he said it, his eyes widened with horror and his face burned a brilliant shade of red.  How could he have just blurted something like that out!?

      Takato's eyes widened as he froze instantly, his mind locking up momentarily.  He didn't just hear what he thought he heard, did he?

      "... What... what did you say...?" he asked, his voice quiet.

      "I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!" Tsuyosa whimpered as he scrambled away from Takato, panicked and more than a little embarrassed.  He scooted away from the other boy, covering his face and shivering as he mentally berated himself for saying such a thing so carelessly.

      "Wh-what?" Takato blinked as he looked at Tsuyosa, utterly confused by the other boy's reaction.  "Tsuyosa?"

      "I... I shouldn't have said that, should I...?" Tsuyosa whispered, weakly.  "I'm... I'm sorry..."

      "... Why... are you sorry...?" Takato asked weakly.  He felt as if his emotions were trapped within a whirlwind, leaving him helpless and confused as they were tossed about in his head and heart.

      "Y-you're angry at me, aren't you...?" Tsuyosa muttered, as if he didn't hear Takato.  "I... I didn't mean to upset you...  I just... I wanted to say how I felt about you..."

      Takato shook his head vehemently, and then moved in closer to Tsuyosa, concern for the other Tamer overriding his own confusion.  "I'm not!  I'm not angry at you!  Not at all!"

      "Y-you're not...?" Tsuyosa whispered.  "But... I... I said..."

      "I'm HAPPY," Takato insisted as he sat next to Tsuyosa and took the other boy's hands in his own.  "Tsuyosa... I..."  Takato trailed off as his face heated drastically and a nervous blush broke out across his cheeks.  He stammered for a few moments incoherently as he suddenly found that speaking in actual sentences was too difficult while his emotions started to cloud his thinking again.

      Tsuyosa blinked slowly, obviously very nervous and afraid.  He swallowed hard as his hands gripped Takato's own, as if Takato might disappear if he let go.  His entire body started to shake as he tried to swallow his fears and wished away the tiny voice that told him that no one, especially Takato, could ever love him.  "Y-you...?" Tsuyosa pressed, his voice weak with fear.

      Takato's mind seemed to lock up as he stammered, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.  Shyly he looked down at his hands holding Tsuyosa's as he tried to concentrate past his churning emotions.  His heart beat wildly in his chest as it ached slightly.  He couldn't help but think of the last time he had felt that way.  It had been when he and 'Juri' were taking the train together.  He had confessed his feelings of extreme like towards her, but she had ignored him.

      He had confessed his feelings of extreme like towards her, but she had ignored him.  Although later on it was realized that whom he had made the confession to was not the real Juri, it didn't make the sting any less when he had confessed them to the real Juri later on.

      It had been hard, but about a month after the entire D-Reaper incident, when the time had seemed right, Takato confessed to the real Juri about how he felt about her... and she rejected him.

      Takato flinched inwardly at the memory.  Sure, Juri had been kind about it, telling him that she viewed him as a brother, and that even though maybe someday she could grow to like him in the way he liked her, but she just didn't feel the same way he did at that time.

      It had hurt, a lot.

      Between the entire mess with the D-Reaper, losing Guilmon, and then Juri's rejection, it wouldn't have been any surprise if Takato had slipped into a depression, but he didn't.  If there was anything he had learned from what happened half a year ago was that depression didn't solve anything.

      Even though Takato had been rejected, he still tried to remain friends with Juri and let his heart heal anyway.  His friends even encouraged him every so often, particularly when he felt down, to try and find someone else.

      Who knew that the someone else he found would end up being someone like Tsuyosa?

      Tsuyosa shivered repeatedly, trying to fight down his urge to cry.  Why was Takato so silent?  He said he wasn't angry, so why wasn't he saying anything?

      Tsuyosa swallowed, his eyes starting to water.  He was being rejected, wasn't he?  He had hoped, considering that Takato had kissed him more than once, that maybe Takato was someone he could risk baring his soul to.  But now that he had done it, Tsuyosa had a hideous feeling that he had ruined everything.

      "Tsu... Tsuyosa..."  Takato managed to choke out, his voice shaky and cracking slightly.  There was so much he wanted to tell Tsuyosa, but it was so hard to figure out what or how to say it.

      What Takato felt for Tsuyosa was so very similar to what he felt for Juri, yet was just as different.  Takato's feelings for Juri developed over time; she was his best friend since they were little, and he always felt close to her.  As he grew up and his feelings towards girls changed, it seemed almost natural to have his feelings towards her change as well.

      After being rejected, his feelings tied to Juri were a mixture of those old pleasant feelings of a close friendship, and the new sadness of unrequited affection.  He had been hurt, and didn't know if he'd ever recover completely.

      And then he met Tsuyosa.

      Unlike his feelings for Juri, the feelings Takato had for Tsuyosa came quickly and passionately; so passionate in fact that they gave Takato the courage to boldly kiss Tsuyosa back at the circus despite the fact that he didn't truly understand them at the time.

      The similarities filled Takato with doubt that ate away at his confidence.  Where Juri once filled his thoughts nearly all the time, Tsuyosa had taken up that place.  At one time Takato would want to include Juri in everything, now it was Tsuyosa.

      There were differences, but those differences changed everything.

      "Y-yes...?" Tsuyosa stared down at Takato's hands, not wanting to see Takato's expressions as he spoke.  Was he disgusted?  Tsuyosa fidgeted, as if he were expecting but also fearing the worst.

      Takato forced himself to think past his confusion and concentrate on the things about Tsuyosa that made him feel such intense emotion towards the other Tamer.  Takato thought of Tsuyosa's smile, of the way he laughed, of how vulnerable he looked when he was sad, and most of all of how he had gathered the courage to confess to Takato something that was obviously hard for him to admit, because it made him vulnerable.

      "I... I'm glad you told me...," he managed to say at last.

      Tsuyosa would never take Juri's place, and Takato didn't want him to.  Juri was Takato's first love, as his cousin Kai had put it, but she was a love that wasn't meant to be.

      And somehow, Takato knew that what he had was Tsuyosa was.

      "... Be... because I..."

      Takato swallowed thickly to get rid of the lump in his throat, his mouth uncomfortably dry.

      "I... I think I..."

      Tsuyosa looked up slowly, his eyes wide and vulnerable.  He half hoped and half dreaded whatever Takato was going to say.  Did Takato have the same feelings for him...?

      Takato shook his head, causing Tsuyosa's heart to sink a little.

      "No... I KNOW I..."

      Takato looked up into Tsuyosa's eyes, his own eyes shimmering.  His voice went quiet, tender.

      "... I love you... too..."

      Tsuyosa tensed slightly and looked to stare at Takato, stupefied.  His moist eyes stared at Takato in utter disbelief, as if he couldn't comprehend the words he just heard Takato say. 

      How could Takato love him?  He was just a sickly little brat with an attitude problem; what was there to love?

      Takato faltered, his cheeks burning from what he had confessed.  He hadn't even fully realized just how much he cared for Tsuyosa until the moment before he said it.  Now that he had, he was at a loss as to what to say now.  All he could think of was act on his emotions, which he proceeded to do so.

      Tsuyosa gasped in surprise as he felt Takato's lips touch his own, tenderly.  His mind raced wildly, unable to focus on anything except how close Takato was and how wonderful his lips felt.  He didn't even remember his wet, clinging pants; it just didn't seem important anymore.

      Takato closed his eyes as he felt his tension and nervousness melt away.  Somehow all his fears and anxieties seemed so inconsequential when he was with Tsuyosa like this.  Slowly Takato reached out to wrap his arms around Tsuyosa in another hug.  He would have noticed that Tsuyosa's pants were no longer wet and clingy, due to the fact that Tsuyosa had ceased thinking or believing that they should be, but didn't care enough about anything except the wonderful boy in his arms.

      Tsuyosa squeaked as he felt Takato's body against his own, shivering slightly as his emotions started to overflow.  Takato was so warm...

      Idly Takato rubbed the small of Tsuyosa's back, where his hands had come to rest during their hug.  He couldn't help but privately marvel at how soft and cuddly Tsuyosa was.

      Tsuyosa arched his back at the tender touch, a small gasp escaping.  His eyes glazed slightly, shimmering with emotions, and he slowly reached up to touch Takato's neck with his soft, uncertain hands.

      Takato mumbled at pleased sound into the kiss, enjoying Tsuyosa's tender touch at the back of his neck.  He pressed himself as closely to Tsuyosa as possible, wanting to feel more of his softness and warmth.

      "Takato, I... I...," Tsuyosa murmured in to the kiss, his eyes drooping slightly as his cheeks glowed red.  He wanted to say something but he couldn't think of the words.  "... Takato..."

      "Tsuyosa," Takato muttered as the kiss eventually ended, before breathing heavily, his heart racing.  Tenderly he continued to rub the small of Tsuyosa's back as he opened his eyes halfway.

      "... Tsu...," Tsuyosa whispered.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked slowly at Tsuyosa.

      "..."  Tsuyosa paused, suddenly very self-conscious.  "... Y-you c-can call me Tsu... my... friends do..."  Tsuyosa knew he only had one friend, ChibiBa, but he didn't really want to say that.

      Takato blinked slowly then smiled warmly at Tsuyosa.

      "Alright... Tsu..."

**_*~*_**

      "Oh, I just KNOW that this stain will NEVER come out!"

      "Eeee, what did I step in!?"

      "Girl friend, you do NOT want to know."

      "YEEEK!  I BROKE A NAIL!!!"

      "SHADDAP!" Lady Devimon snarled.  "Keep the whining to a minimum, iladies/i, and destroy stuff, or I'll delete the next digimon who pisses me off!"

      The digimon squealed and went about on their 'rampage', swatting at cars and people while trying to remain standing on their high heels.

      "... AND USE YOUR ATTACKS!" Lady Devimon screeched.

      A collective squeal issued as the digimon tried to use their attacks to destroy.

      Lady Devimon sighed and massaged her forehead.  If the pay and the benefits weren't so good, she'd quit.

      If she didn't risk getting eaten by Reapermon's puppet by doing so that is.

      The puppet, and Reapermon, had demanded more chocolate, underwear, and My Little Horsie dolls.  It wasn't Lady Devimon's place to ask why; she was just supposed to lead her 'troops' so they could fulfill that task, and wreak as much havoc as they could along the way.

      "EEE!" Ogremon gasped suddenly as a car snapped in two due to his fists.  "W-was that SUPPOSED to happen!?"

      "..." Lady Devimon twitched as her eyes flared at Ogremon.  "YES!  NOW DO IT AGAIN!  OR I'LL DELETE YOU!"

      "EEEE!" Ogremon flailed, then squeaked and proceeded to smash more things.

      "Hold it right there!"

      Ogremon paused, then glanced over his shoulder to stare.  "Eee?"

      Justimon stood a short distance away from the cross-dressing digimon, his scarf blowing almost in a dramatic fashion.  Behind him were Guardromon, Hirokazu, Marine Angemon, and Kenta.

      Lady Devimon twitched and shot a glare at Justimon, annoyed at the interruption.  "Great.  The Tamers.  That's all I needed," she snarled.

      "Oh dear, one of them's a MEGA!" the Ogremon whimpered.

      "Two of them," Numemon pointed out.

      "... Really?" Ogremon blinked.  "Who?"

      "The Marine Angemon!" Numemon replied.

      "... But it's so tiny and cute and snuggly and AW LOOK AT IIIIT!" Ogremon squealed.

      "Pipu?" Marine Angemon blinked as he tilted his head.

      "AWWWW!" the evil lingerie digimon squealed happily.

      Kenta sweat-dropped.

      "Cease this senseless destruction and go back to where you came from!" Justimon said as he pointed at the cross-dressing digimon.

      "..." The digimon looked at Justimon, then snorted and looked back at Marine Angemon.  "... AWWW!!! CUTE!!!"

      "... Do you have any idea how cheesy that sounded?" Lady Devimon asked as she quirked a brow at Justimon.

      "..."  Justimon sweat-dropped.

      "Hey!  Don't you know who he is!?" Hirokazu cried, pointing dynamically.  "He's RYO!  He's LEGENDARY!  He's-"

      "Grade A Cheese-y!" Ogremon cried.

      The other digimon giggled cutely.

      "Go away.  We're on a tight schedule," Lady Devimon said flatly as she tapped her clipboard.

      "Tee hee," Ogremon winked at the other 'girls'.  "SOMEONE'S trying to overcompensate, isn't he, girls?"

      "Hey, he is NOT overcompensating!" Hirokazu cried, glowering.

      "How would YOU know, dearie?" Ogremon crooned.  The other digimon giggled.

      "... Enough of this!" Justimon snarled, Cyberdramon's personality obviously dominating.  "Leave now or we'll have no choice but to delete you!"

      "Oooh, he's so AGGRESSIVE, too!" Ogremon snickered.

      "Well.  Since you asked so nicely," Lady Devimon drawled before drawing in a deep breath.  "OH LOOK!  IT IS AN UNATTENDED PACK OF REESES PIECES!"

      The other digimon gasped, horrified, and dived for cover.

      Suddenly, a low yip and a yowl issued through the air.

      "REESES!  REESES!  REEEEEEESSESSS!"

      "What the?!" Kenta gasped, startled.

      Out of nowhere, a small Leomon puppet hovered down from the sky and waved its paws happily.  "ROWRRR!"

      "Pipi!?" Marine Angemon blinked repeatedly.

      "... A Leomon puppet...?" Justimon stared.

      The puppet hovered down to look at Lady Devimon.  "Reeeeseees?"

      Lady Devimon pretended to sob as she pointed at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Oh... It's TERRIBLE!" she 'sobbed'.  "THEY... ATE... IT... ALL... UP!"

      "... REEEEEESSEEESSS!" the Leomon puppet whirled to glare at the Tamers, its eyes glowing a brilliant red.

      Justimon drew back slightly, wary of an attack from the puppet.

      "What is that thing?" Hirokazu muttered.

      "OH DEAR!" Guardromon squeaked.

      Kenta pulled out his D-Arc and attempted to scan the puppet.  "... 'No data'?" he read worriedly.  "Uh oh..."

      "Pipipi!" Marine Angemon exclaimed.

      The Leomon puppet suddenly began to dance, waving its paws about as it 'grooved'.

      The Tamers and their digimon suddenly started to jerk as they lost control of their bodies.  They unable to stop themselves as they started dancing like the Leomon puppet.

      "What is this!?" Justimon cried as he struggled to stop himself from dancing.

      "Rawr, rawr yip!  Yip yap yup!" the Leomon puppet snickered as it danced, then twirled about and wiggled it's 'butt' in a dancing manner.

      "Pipipi," Marine Angemon blinked as he twirled.

      "You said it," Kenta boggled, blushing as his butt was made to wiggle along with the puppet.

      "H-hey!" Hirokazu squeaked as he wiggled back and forth as well.

      "Oh deeeeaaaar!" Guardromon cried as he wiggled.

      The Leomon puppet whirled about as it danced, happily.

      "RAWWWRRRR!"

**_*~*_**

      The phone rang noisily within Hypnos' lab.

      Yamaki glanced up from the computer monitor he had been looking over before walking over to answer it.  "Yamaki here," he said calmly.

      A low chattering could be heard, muffled.

      "... I see.  How are they fairing?"

      Yamaki made a face.

      "The digimon are gone?"

      He paused to listen.

      "What are the kids still doing there then!?"

      Yamaki suddenly fell over.

      "..."

      He staggered to his feet, his composure lost.

      "They're WHAT?!"

      The phone chattered again, urgently.

      "They're... DANCING... in WOMENS' UNDERWEAR!?"

      Yamaki hung up the phone after a few moments.

      "...  ...  ... I need a drink."

**_*~*_**

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and seventy eight..."

      ChibiBa panted heavily as he dragged himself along the ground, looking thoroughly exhausted with each step.

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and seventy-nine...," he huffed, taking yet another pained step.

      "Can't... we... stop... NOW... Chibi... Ba...?" Guilmon panted, his entire body drooping, as he was barely able to make each step while he followed ChibiBa.

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and EIGHTY!" he gasped, then suddenly collapsed to his butt.  "YES... NOW we stop..."

      "Yaaaay...," Guilmon gasped before he fell over.  He lay flopped over onto the ground, gasping for air and looking thoroughly hot, sweaty, and exhausted.  He closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to just sleep for about a week.

      ChibiBa was a brutal trainer.

      ChibiBa gasped for air as he wiped at his brow, chuckling.  "That was a good warm up!" he smirked.

      His only response was a loud snore.

      "..." ChibiBa glanced at Guilmon and scowled.  "... Oh come on.  You're tired from THAT?"

      Guilmon couldn't respond as he continued snoring loudly, deeply asleep.

      ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

      "Nyar, he's tired!"

      "Very, very tired!"

      ChibiBa blinked and looked up.  "... Eh?"

      Floating above the two tired dinosaur digimon was the familiar pair of Black Tailmon and Opossomon, the former holding on tightly to the latter's paw as he drifted overhead by his balloons.

      "Lookie who's trespassing!" Opossomon said cheerfully.

      "... Huh?" ChibiBa blinked repeatedly.  "... Aren't you...?"

      "Nyar, he looks like he needs a nap too!" Black Tailmon giggled.

      "Yup!" Opossomon giggled wickedly.  "Shall we tuck him in?"

      "Please do!" Black Tailmon purred.

      "... HEY!" ChibiBa's eyes widened with recognition.  "You ARE-!"

      "CUTE!" Opossomon interrupted cheerfully.  With a snap of his tail, he popped one of the balloons, revealing an anvil that had somehow managed to hide within its confines and yet still didn't keep the balloon from floating.

      ChibiBa blinked and stared, eyes wide.  "Eh?"

      ChibiBa didn't have any time to dodge as the anvil fell from the sky and landed with a loud clang onto his head.

      ChibiBa let out a yelp before he toppled over, knocked out.

      "That worked, nyar," Black Tailmon blinked.

      "Aww...  His head didn't go squish!" Opossomon sulked.  "Or make an accordion noise either!"

      "Be thankful it knocked him out or he'd have gotten nasty," Black Tailmon snorted.

      Opossomon blinked as he tilted his head.  "... Toilet duty?" he ventured.

      "... No," Black Tailmon shook her head.  "If he wakes up, the first thing he'll do is kill us."

      "Aww...," Opossomon sulked.

      "We're going to have to lock him up really good," Black Tailmon nodded.  "... Then we can throw things at him."

      "Like Sheepmon?"

      "Nyar, sounds like a plan."


	42. Confusing Love YaoiFree

Authors' Notes: As we said so many times before, we don't own Digimon... but we do own this story, Sera, Tsu, and any fan characters mentioned!

      Please don't steal them! ;_;

      Sorry about this chapter being late, but we wanted to make extra sure that it was ready for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!

      This chapter's been censored... so if you don't like yaoi, yer in the right place.  However, if you WANT the full version, full of delicious angst and touching moments, go to the full version!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 29: Confusing Love_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Beelzebumon sat by the heater, wrapped up tightly in the blanket as he sat on a warmed towel.  Earlier, Sera had given him the towel to try and warm up his skin after his rear had frozen to the floor.  After many tough minutes of humiliation, the ice finally released him and Beelzebumon decided to use the towel as a seat to avoid similar instances from happening again.

      Sera sat on the bed as she stared out the window, her face flushed.  After helping free Beelzebumon from the floor, she opted to keep her distance from him, both to save him from embarrassment and because the sight of the virtually naked Mega was almost too much for her to handle.  She silently waited for him to warm up and his clothes to dry, unable to think of anything to say to ease the tension between them.  The situation was very embarrassing for both of them.

      But more so for Beelzebumon, she imagined.  He was the one whose butt froze to the floor.

      Beelzebumon sighed, and then eyed his clothes.  They were still dripping wet, though the water was warm due to the heater.

      However, he wanted the clothes dry, not warmly wet.

      Sera glanced over at Beelzebumon when she heard him sigh, her blush deepening at the sight of him; even with his back to her and his body mostly covered with a large thermal blanket.  "... How are you doing?" she asked at last, breaking the tense silence that had been hanging between them.

      "..." Beelzebumon coughed.  "My clothes are still wet."

      "... Oh," Sera muttered, blushing.

      "..." Beelzebumon shifted.  "... It won't take much longer."

      "... That's good," Sera said quietly.  She fidgeted slightly as, while she was embarrassed over it, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret that Beelzebumon would be fully dressed soon.  He had a beautiful body after all.

      Sera blushed at such thoughts and lightly slapped her cheeks in an attempt to clear them from her mind.

      Beelzebumon shifted slightly, then grunted deep in his throat.  "Ow."

      "Huh?" Sera blinked as she looked up at Beelzebumon.  "What's wrong?"

      "... My butt's sore,"

      "Oh," Sera squeaked as she blushed harder.  "... Isn't the towel working...?"

      "Yes," Beelzebumon coughed.  "But, um, it's sore from when it was stuck."

      "O-oh," Sera flushed.

      "..." Beelzebumon turned to stare at the heater.  "... If the others knew what happened, I'd never hear the end of it."

      "D-don't worry...  It'll be our little secret...," Sera muttered.

      "Good...," Beelzebumon coughed.  "Tough guys don't get their butts frozen to the ground."

      "Well...  I guess it can happen to anyone...  I mean...  Life's not perfect...," Sera shrugged slightly, realizing what she was saying probably didn't help Beelzebumon's ego any.

      "... I'm perfect!" Beelzebumon replied, sulkily.

      "..."  Sera couldn't help herself, and giggled lightly.

      "... What's so funny?!" Beelzebumon demanded.

      "Nothing," Sera said as she forced herself to stop giggling, trying to keep a straight face.

      "..." Beelzebumon eyed her, suspiciously.

      Sera shook slightly in an attempt to hold back the urge to giggle again and smiled crookedly.  In spite of the embarrassment, the situation was funny in a strange sort of way.

      Beelzebumon blinked, then started to chuckle himself.  "... I guess it is kind of funny," he admitted.

      "Yeah," Sera giggled, unable to hold it back anymore.

      Beelzebumon chuckled deeply, before he could stop himself, and grinned at Sera.  "Just a little, though!" he winked.

      Sera giggled even louder at that and smiled back at Beelzebumon.  "Right," she giggled.

      Beelzebumon sighed and snuggled in the blanket once his laughter died down, then stared at the heater.

      Sera sighed as well once she had stopped giggling, and looked at Beelzebumon.  She was still blushing at the sight of him, but the laughter had been oddly therapeutic, and seemed to make things more comfortable between them.  It also brought her to a realization.

      Despite the different body and name, and despite how awkward she felt around him in this form, Beelzebumon was still Impmon, her partner.

      The person she loved.

      Sera wrung her hands nervously, suddenly felt with the urgent need to know how Beelzebumon felt about her.  She had no idea how he felt; especially after his reaction to what she had done when he was Impmon and they were in the Real World.  She had confessed her feelings because she thought that would make things easier between them, and bring them closer, but instead it seemed as if it caused him to distance himself even more from her emotionally.  She couldn't help but wonder if it was because of his experiences with Ai and Makoto made him react that way, or if it was the thought of her feeling that way towards him that did it.

      Sera couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to it than just her cousins considering what he had said about her needing to be protected from him.  Considering what had happened with Ai and Makoto, it would have made more sense for it to be the other way around.

      Unfortunately, Sera had no clue as to what else could be troubling Beelzebumon.  Either it was just her, or something else had happened that she didn't know about.  Both were just as likely.

      Gathering her courage, Sera slowly slid off the bed and stood up.

      She needed to know how he felt.  One way or the other.

      Beelzebumon sat with his back to Sera, holding the blanket closer as he watched the heater.  He sighed quietly to himself.  He didn't want to alienate Sera but, deep down, he knew it was for the best.  He had never forgiven himself for what he did to Juri and Leomon, even if Juri herself had.  The memory of when he stabbed killed Leomon still haunted him.  He could still vividly see it in his mind's eye as if it had only happened yesterday instead of about half a year ago.

      Beelzebumon almost wished for the days when he didn't care what the consequences were for his actions.  Things seemed so simple then, but he knew that no matter how much he convinced himself otherwise, he did care.

      He was terrified that he might hurt someone else like he had Juri.  The thought that the 'someone else' in question was Sera downright terrified him.

      "... Beelzebumon...?"

      Beelzebumon jumped almost a mile high before he glanced over his shoulder to see Sera standing nervously behind him, her eyes switching between glancing at him and gazing at the floor.

      "... Yah?" Beelzebumon asked once he had calmed down from his surprise, suddenly dreading whatever it was Sera was going to ask him.

      Sera blinked; momentarily surprised at how Beelzebumon reacted to her calling his name, and suddenly felt even more nervous than before.  Trembling slightly, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before attempting to speak again.  She made sure to keep her eyes on her hands, which fidgeted nervously, because if she looked at her partner, she would more than likely lose her nerve, and be unable to continue.

      "... How... how do you... feel about... me...?" she asked quietly, her voice a timid whisper.  She had no idea how he'd answer, or even if he would answer, but it was a question she had to ask.  She couldn't help but fear what his answer might be, however.

      "..."  Beelzebumon blinked slowly as he considered what she had asked.  He didn't want to lie to her but he was afraid what telling the truth would do.  If he told her how he felt, what would he be exposing her to?  If he didn't tell her, however, then he knew he'd hurt her far worse.  His mind made up, he fidgeted.  His cheeks tinted slightly as he looked back at the heater and coughed.  "... I... care about you."

      "... I... I'm glad...," Sera whispered, a small smile appearing on her face as she looked up at Beelzebumon again.

      Beelzebumon nodded slightly, hoping Sera wouldn't press the subject.  He wasn't particularly fond of expressing his feelings.

      While Beelzebumon's answer relieved Sera quite a bit, she wasn't quite satisfied with it.  She closed her eyes and tried to gather all her courage, knowing that what she was about to say might be a big mistake.  "... I love you... Beelzebumon...," she said softly.  Strangely enough, the words were easier to say a second time, which helped make Sera feel a bit better about saying them.  She quickly decided to press on before she lost her nerve.  "Do... do you love... could... could you ever..."  She trailed off as an uncomfortable heat settled in her face and chest.  Her courage seemed to instantly evaporate, leaving her vulnerable and afraid.  She gripped her hands tightly together and shook her head.  "N-never... never mind... I shouldn't have asked..."

      Beelzebumon paled.  He was hoping she wouldn't ask him that sort of question.  He had been dreading the day she'd ask him but he supposed she'd want to know sooner or later.  He couldn't have kept on going forever without having to confront the subject.  He swallowed hard, then closed his eyes.  "I..." Beelzebumon took a deep breath, hoping she would understand him.  "... I'm not good at sayin' mushy crap like that..."

      "... It... it's... okay...  You don't... have to say it...," Sera managed to force out, her voice very quiet.  Her chest ached as she trembled slightly from her emotions.  "... I... I'm sorry... I shouldn't... shouldn't have asked..."

      "... I'm not good at mushy crap," Beelzebumon repeated.  "... I want to... but it just won't come.  It just won't."

      Sera blinked her eyes open and looked at Beelzebumon, a little surprised at his admission.  Nonetheless it made her feel somewhat better, as she had feared the worst.  "... Why...?" she asked softly, the question leaving her mouth before she could stop it.

      "... Why?" Beelzebumon repeated; surprised Sera even needed to ask.  He blinked slowly, and then shook his head.  "How COULD I...?"

      "... I'm sorry..."  Sera mentally kicked herself for being so stupid.  Of course she shouldn't have asked, because the obvious answer was Ai and Makoto.  After all they did to Beelzebumon, how could he ever let himself be that vulnerable emotionally again?

      "... Nuthin' to apologize for...," Beelzebumon muttered.  "I'm the big dumb Mega who can't say what he wants ta say..."

      "You're not dumb," Sera protested.  "I mean... anyone would react the way you did after what they... what happened to you...  I'm amazed at how strong you are... lasting through all that like you did..."  She faltered for a moment for what to say, not wanting to keep the subject related to her cousins longer than she had to.  "... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have forced the issue...  I mean... I should've known better..."

      "... Just 'cuz I can't say it doesn't mean I can't feel it..." Beelzebumon pointed out, weakly.

      Sera paused at Beelzebumon's words, feeling so many emotions, both good and bad, that they threatened to overwhelm her.  She wiped at her eyes, which had become uncomfortably damp, then smiled as best she could.  "... I understand...," she whispered before she sat down behind him, feeling the need to get closer to him.  "... You don't have to say it..."  She closed her eyes and leaned against him, shy yet bold at the same time.  "... I can wait... until you can..."

      "I want to say it...," Beelzebumon repeated, sighing.  "I just... can't make the words come out..."

      "It's okay...  You don't have to say it...," Sera repeated.  Blushing, she timidly wrapped her arms around Beelzebumon's waist in an attempt to comfort him.  "... Just knowing you feel that way... it's enough for me..."

      Beelzebumon twitched, then slowly relaxed against Sera as his cheeks flushed.  "... I... Sera..."

      "I love you... Beelzebumon...," Sera murmured, her voice slightly muffled as she pressed her face against his back.

      Beelzebumon blushed even brighter.  He wanted to tell her he felt the same way, but the words simply formed as lumps in his throat.  Instead, he simply swallowed and stared at the heater.  "... Don't hurt me... okay, Sera?"

      "Huh?" Sera blinked as she looked up at Beelzebumon, surprised by his sudden question.

      "... Don't... hurt me," Beelzebumon repeated, suddenly very self-conscious.  "Okay?"

      Sera paused for a moment as the question sunk in.  She closed her eyes again and hugged Beelzebumon closer, wanting to make him feel happy again.  "Okay...," she promised gently yet firmly.  "I promise...  I won't hurt you...  Not ever..."

      "... Thank you..." Beelzebumon whispered, his cheeks a brilliant red.

      Sera held Beelzebumon tightly, protectively, as she wanted to keep him close to her, and never let him get hurt again.  She wanted to prove to him, more than just with words, that she loved him, and wanted to make him happy.

      Beelzebumon said nothing, both unsure and afraid of what to say.  He enjoyed Sera's company immensely, even if he had problems saying so.  He didn't want to chase her away by saying something stupid.

      Instead, Beelzebumon simply turned his head to look at Sera quietly.

       Sera looked up at Beelzebumon for a few moments, the blush on her cheeks darkening.  Caught on an impulse to show her love, she leaned up and suddenly kissed him.

      Beelzebumon's eyes widened at the sudden kiss, his cheeks a brilliant red.  The kiss was soft and timid, as if Sera was uncertain if it was all right to do so.  The intimate contact only lasted for a moment before they separated.  He stared stupidly at her for a moment before a big, goofy grin crossed his face.

      "Uh... well... that's a start...," he managed to say, stupidly.

**_*~*_**

      Takato sighed softly as he stared into the fire, almost transfixed, as he kept Tsuyosa close with one arm wrapped around the other boy's shoulders.  They sat together in comfortable, companionable silence, as the rain continued to pour in torrents from the skies outside of the cave, which was growing ever colder by the minute in spite of the fire.

      An occasional shiver ran through Tsuyosa's body as he sat, his pants still clinging to him with its cold, wet fabric.  He refused to say anything about it, however.  He didn't want Takato to worry about him or, even worse, pity him.

      He wanted so desperately to be helpful and a part of the team.  He wasn't just ChibiBa's Tamer; he was Tsuyosa.

      So why did he feel so useless?

      Takato glanced at Tsuyosa and moved in closer to the other boy, trying to warm both of them with their combined body heat.  He worried about Tsuyosa getting sick from the chilly temperatures, especially because of how soaked he was.  The last thing Takato wanted was for something to happen to Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa set his jaw, trying desperately to ignore the cold seeping through his body.  Mentally cursing himself for being so fragile, he started chewing on his lower lip while willing himself to remain as calm and casual as possible.  Even Takato's warmth, though comforting, wasn't enough to draw his attention away from his wet, clinging pants.

      Idly Takato rubbed Tsuyosa's shoulder as he tried to sit as closely to the soaked boy as possible.  He thought about asking if Tsuyosa was okay a number of times, but didn't want to upset him.  Tsuyosa had made it very clear that he hated being thought of as a burden, and even a casual question of concern could hurt his feelings.

      Tsuyosa sighed quietly, and then leaned back against the wall slightly.  Something else bothered him, as well.  He closed his eyes, his mind whirling.  Everything was happening so fast.  He didn't know what to make of what he was feeling.  When he first met Takato, he hated him...

      No, that was wrong.  He never hated Takato.

      Tsuyosa opened his eyes and stared at the ground.

      He was always drawn to Takato, however slightly.  He didn't know why; he just was.  That fact had scared him.  All his life, he had been shunned.  It had gotten to the point where they kept their distance and he kept his.

      Suddenly, he saw Takato and found himself unable to do so.  He couldn't avoid the boy, even when trying to.  He wasn't sure if he was stalking Takato or if Takato was stalking him.

      Terrified of such a new development, Tsuyosa tried to scare away the other boy.  With a smirk on his face and a barrier in his heart, he tried to agitate Takato.  If Tsuyosa couldn't stay away from Takato, then Takato would stay away from Tsuyosa.

      However, it didn't work.

      Tsuyosa tilted his head and snickered humorlessly.  How could it have worked?  Everything relied on ChibiBa.  Without ChibiBa, he had no defense.  He found that out rather quickly...

      When caught alone at the circus that fateful day, Tsuyosa finally realized just how vulnerable he was.  Everything changed from that moment on, ever since he was chased down the streets for those hideous, terrifying minutes.  Talk didn't mean anything when it came right down to the basics.

      How could he be brave when he was nothing more than a sickly child with an attitude problem?

      "What's so funny, Tsuyosa?" Takato blinked, his voice interrupting Tsuyosa's train of thought.

      "A-ah?" Tsuyosa blinked, then glanced at Takato sheepishly.  "... Nothing...  I was just thinking..."

      "About what?" Takato asked curiously as he tilted his head slightly.

      "..." Tsuyosa almost said 'about how pathetic I am' but stopped himself.  Instead, he shrugged weakly.  "Just... you know... how we first met..."

      Takato cheeks flushed and he rubbed the back of his head.  "Oh, I see," he muttered, feeling sheepish all of a sudden.

      "... Yeah..."  Tsuyosa turned to look at the floor, trying to keep a level expression to hide how miserable he felt.  Before, Tsuyosa could make the mask so easily that it was frightening. He could hide any feeling behind a false expression of pure indifference.  No one could tell that they upset him, even when they were hurting him physically.  But now, it was so hard trying to recreate that protective barrier.  It just seemed so impossible; Takato always made him react despite it.  Takato could make him so angry he forgot he was trying to be calm and collected or so flustered he didn't know what to say.

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa silently for a few moments as the other boy looked away, and began to feel guilty.  "I...  Tsuyosa, I'm sorry about what happened... when we first met I mean...," Takato said softly.

      "... Why?" Tsuyosa blinked, caught off guard.  What had Takato done that he needed to apologize for?  Tsuyosa had been the instigator, not him!

      Takato blushed a bit deeper, flustered.  "Well... I tried to hurt you...," he muttered guiltily.  "If ChibiBa didn't stop me... I would have..."  He paused for a moment, as the incident at the circus came to mind.  "And... I'm sorry about the time I chased you..."

      "... I deserved it," Tsuyosa muttered.  "... There's nothing to apologize for..."

      Takato shook his head.  "No you didn't," he insisted.  "Even if you made me mad, that's no excuse for me to try and hurt you..."

      "... Heh," Tsuyosa smiled slightly.  "... I did deserve it... it made me see... what I really am... and that I shouldn't try to be something I'm not."

      "... Tsuyosa...," Takato muttered quietly, taken back by what Tsuyosa said.  He had no idea how to respond to that.

      "..."  Tsuyosa lowered his head, slightly.  "... That's why I can't stand up to Akkenai...  I can't do it anymore... because I know... I know that I can't do anything without ChibiBa."

      "That's not true!" Takato protested firmly.  "You can do things for yourself just like everyone else!"

      "... All right," Tsuyosa didn't look up.  "You're right.  I can DO it... but I'll just get beaten up or made fun of.  It doesn't mean anything...," Tsuyosa paused, then chuckled humorlessly.  "You know, it's like a small dog barking at someone...  It's more funny than threatening."

      "Tsuyosa... That's not true at all!"  Takato placed both of his hands on Tsuyosa's shoulders, shifting himself to face the other boy more fully.  "There's a lot you can do, and violence doesn't solve anything."  He paused, faltering for a moment as he remembered about why they were in the Digital World in the first place.  "Well... I mean... it does solve SOME things, but not everything, and only when there's no other option."  He let out a frustrated sigh, as the words in his head seemed to have trouble coming out the right way.  "You know what I'm trying to say, don't you?"

      Tsuyosa squeaked and looked at Takato, not having expected Takato to react so strongly against what he had said.  He paused, and then nodded slowly.  "... I know what you're trying to say... but it's not just violence... self defense... I mean...," Tsuyosa faltered, then lowered his gaze to the ground.  "... Back at the circus... what would have happened if you had caught me... if I wasn't having an attack...?"

      Takato faltered as well, taken back by Tsuyosa's question.  His shoulders slumped slightly as he felt a gnawing pit of guilt well up in his stomach.  He knew that if he had caught Tsuyosa, and the black-clad Tamer hadn't been having an attack, he would have attacked him in his blind rage.

      Takato didn't get angry very often, but when he did, he was like a berserker.

      "..."  Tsuyosa knew what Takato was thinking; it was something he had been thinking himself while running.  He remembered the terror he felt when he realized that Takato would have hurt him badly.  "... I wouldn't have been able to stop you, would I?" he muttered.  "I'm... not blaming you of anything, Takato...  I mean, it didn't happen... there's nothing to be ashamed of... but it just proves my point.  If you had caught me, I wouldn't have been able to stop you from doing anything you wanted to me."

      "... Tsuyosa...," was all Takato could say.

      "... Am I wrong?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.

      "I...," Takato faltered, his mind whirling as he tried to figure out what to say to prove Tsuyosa wrong despite how right the other boy was; at least in some respects.

      "..."  Tsuyosa felt bad about using Takato as an example. He hadn't meant to.  Instead, he decided to try another angle.  "... Look, what would happen if Akkenai decided to just drag me off somewhere to do whatever he wanted to me?  I couldn't stop him.  Not without ChibiBa.  Nothing I could do would stop him from... from... you know... doing things to me..."

      "But... you don't need to stop him by yourself...," Takato muttered, privately thankful for the change in example as it made it easier for him to think of what to say.  "You've got all of us, and we'll help you.  Besides... you can try reporting him to someone like the police and get him arrested."

      "... After it happens," Tsuyosa muttered.  "After I've been hurt and... and...  ...  Yes, I can call the police after the fact... but during...?  When he's...?  I wouldn't be able to do anything except scream."

      "..."  Takato cringed and shook his head violently.  "No!  That's not what I meant!"  Unconsciously he moved in closer to Tsuyosa, feeling the need to protect the other boy.  "I meant that you should report him to someone before that happens..."

      "... With what proof?" Tsuyosa muttered.  "I heard his father was Dean of the school...  Why would anyone at the school believe me?"

      "... Well...," Takato trailed off as he tried to figure out what to do about that situation.  "... Maybe you could ask for something to keep him away from you... maybe like a restraining order or something?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa shook his head.  "And if he ignores it...?"

      "... Uh... well..."  Takato faltered, trying to figure out what to do about the perverted teenager.  "... Maybe you should ask Sera what she does...?  I mean... she seems to deal with him a lot..."  Inwardly Takato winced, as he knew that answer was just a grasp at straws so to speak.

      "She hits him," Tsuyosa looked at Takato, levelly.

      "... Yeah, well..."  Takato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  "... That doesn't really help you know...  Which proves violence doesn't solve it..."  He blushed, knowing that he was probably completely messing up.

      "... But at least she stops him," Tsuyosa muttered.  "I can't...  I mean... if he tried to grab her and drag her off to... you know... she'd hit him and he'd stop.  ... If he tried to drag me off... I'd hit him and he'd probably beat me unconscious."

      "... But he doesn't hit her," Takato pointed out weakly.  "So... there's no reason to think he'd hit you..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered and curled up.  "... You haven't seen him when he's really mad have you?  I mean... he was about to hit you back at that race!  ... When... when some guys voiced an interest in dating Sera... he... he hurt them... he hurt them very badly.  I saw him...  I couldn't help them-!"  Tsuyosa covered his face.  "... ChibiBa ran and stopped him... but I... I was useless..."

      "..."  Takato didn't know what to say, so he remained silent as he thought hurriedly.  "... But... Akkenai doesn't hit HER... and... since he likes you too... wouldn't that mean... that he'd not hit you too...?"

      "..."  Tsuyosa looked at Takato.  He could tell that he was just upsetting Takato, so he decided to drop the subject.  He turned to stare at the ground, trying to swallow his fears and pain while fixing his mask.  There was no point in scaring Takato; he'd just suffer through it quietly himself.  "... Rather stormy, isn't it."

      "... Tsuyosa..."  Takato sighed softly as he looked at Tsuyosa, hating feeling helpless to cheer up the other boy and alleviate his fears.

      "... Yes?" Tsuyosa asked, his voice monotone.

      Takato sighed again at Tsuyosa's tone.  "... Just because you can't fight doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa closed his eyes.  "... Takato... it's easy to say that but... all my life... I..."

      "... You don't have to fight," Takato continued quietly.  "You can just try talking things out instead..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa shivered.  "... Some people can't be reasoned with..."

      "I know... but you get help for people like that...," Takato muttered as he slipped his arm around Tsuyosa's shoulder, pulling him close again.  "... I mean... maybe you could ask you dad to do something...  Even if Akkenai's dad is the dean, your dad's a ton more important than that, you know?"

      "... But then I'm hiding behind my dad...," Tsuyosa muttered, weakly.  "Like I'm hiding behind ChibiBa..."

      "No you wouldn't!" Takato shook his head vehemently.  "EVERYBODY needs help sometimes!  You can stand up for yourself with those you can deal with... and with those you can't, you turn to the people you care about for help..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa was confused.  He looked at Takato, uncertain.  "... But what if you can't deal with ANYTHING yourself... and you always turn to other people for help...?"

      "That's just it...  You CAN deal with stuff yourself.  Like when you dealt with me... even though...," Takato trailed off.

      "..."  Tsuyosa wasn't sure how to respond.  He swallowed quietly.  "... Maybe..."

      "..."  Takato looked at Tsuyosa for a few long moments as he tried to figure out what to say.  Silently, he leaned in closer against Tsuyosa so and drew the other boy into a gentle hug.  "... Tsuyosa... you're a very strong person...  You've been through a lot... and you've still been able to get through it okay..."

      Tsuyosa squeaked slightly as he was held close.  He closed his eyes and tried to focus his thoughts.

      "... Takato...?" he whispered.  "... Did you ever... hate me?"

      Takato was taken back at the question, but didn't hesitate in answering it.  "Of course not!"  Inwardly he flinched at his raised voice, and spoke more quietly, tenderly.  "... I could never hate you...  Even when I was angry at you... and you drove me crazy...  I still couldn't hate you..."

      "... Takato, I...," Tsuyosa fumbled.  "... I... didn't hate you... either..."

      "I'm glad...," Takato mumbled.

      "Takato... I... I..." Tsuyosa fumbled, trying to collect his thoughts but ultimately failing.

      "Yes?"

      "... Tsu...," Tsuyosa whispered.

      "Huh?" Takato blinked slowly at Tsuyosa.

      "..."  Tsuyosa paused, suddenly very self-conscious.  "... Y-you c-can call me Tsu... my... friends do..."  Tsuyosa knew he only had one friend, ChibiBa, but he didn't really want to say that.

      Takato blinked slowly then smiled warmly at Tsuyosa.

      "Alright... Tsu..."

**_*~*_**

      "Oh, I just KNOW that this stain will NEVER come out!"

      "Eeee, what did I step in!?"

      "Girl friend, you do NOT want to know."

      "YEEEK!  I BROKE A NAIL!!!"

      "SHADDAP!" Lady Devimon snarled.  "Keep the whining to a minimum, iladies/i, and destroy stuff, or I'll delete the next digimon who pisses me off!"

      The digimon squealed and went about on their 'rampage', swatting at cars and people while trying to remain standing on their high heels.

      "... AND USE YOUR ATTACKS!" Lady Devimon screeched.

      A collective squeal issued as the digimon tried to use their attacks to destroy.

      Lady Devimon sighed and massaged her forehead.  If the pay and the benefits weren't so good, she'd quit.

      If she didn't risk getting eaten by Reapermon's puppet by doing so that is.

      The puppet, and Reapermon, had demanded more chocolate, underwear, and My Little Horsie dolls.  It wasn't Lady Devimon's place to ask why; she was just supposed to lead her 'troops' so they could fulfill that task, and wreak as much havoc as they could along the way.

      "EEE!" Ogremon gasped suddenly as a car snapped in two due to his fists.  "W-was that SUPPOSED to happen!?"

      "..." Lady Devimon twitched as her eyes flared at Ogremon.  "YES!  NOW DO IT AGAIN!  OR I'LL DELETE YOU!"

      "EEEE!" Ogremon flailed, then squeaked and proceeded to smash more things.

      "Hold it right there!"

      Ogremon paused, then glanced over his shoulder to stare.  "Eee?"

      Justimon stood a short distance away from the cross-dressing digimon, his scarf blowing almost in a dramatic fashion.  Behind him were Guardromon, Hirokazu, Marine Angemon, and Kenta.

      Lady Devimon twitched and shot a glare at Justimon, annoyed at the interruption.  "Great.  The Tamers.  That's all I needed," she snarled.

      "Oh dear, one of them's a MEGA!" the Ogremon whimpered.

      "Two of them," Numemon pointed out.

      "... Really?" Ogremon blinked.  "Who?"

      "The Marine Angemon!" Numemon replied.

      "... But it's so tiny and cute and snuggly and AW LOOK AT IIIIT!" Ogremon squealed.

      "Pipu?" Marine Angemon blinked as he tilted his head.

      "AWWWW!" the evil lingerie digimon squealed happily.

      Kenta sweat-dropped.

      "Cease this senseless destruction and go back to where you came from!" Justimon said as he pointed at the cross-dressing digimon.

      "..." The digimon looked at Justimon, then snorted and looked back at Marine Angemon.  "... AWWW!!! CUTE!!!"

      "... Do you have any idea how cheesy that sounded?" Lady Devimon asked as she quirked a brow at Justimon.

      "..."  Justimon sweat-dropped.

      "Hey!  Don't you know who he is!?" Hirokazu cried, pointing dynamically.  "He's RYO!  He's LEGENDARY!  He's-"

      "Grade A Cheese-y!" Ogremon cried.

      The other digimon giggled cutely.

      "Go away.  We're on a tight schedule," Lady Devimon said flatly as she tapped her clipboard.

      "Tee hee," Ogremon winked at the other 'girls'.  "SOMEONE'S trying to overcompensate, isn't he, girls?"

      "Hey, he is NOT overcompensating!" Hirokazu cried, glowering.

      "How would YOU know, dearie?" Ogremon crooned.  The other digimon giggled.

      "... Enough of this!" Justimon snarled, Cyberdramon's personality obviously dominating.  "Leave now or we'll have no choice but to delete you!"

      "Oooh, he's so AGGRESSIVE, too!" Ogremon snickered.

      "Well.  Since you asked so nicely," Lady Devimon drawled before drawing in a deep breath.  "OH LOOK!  IT IS AN UNATTENDED PACK OF REESES PIECES!"

      The other digimon gasped, horrified, and dived for cover.

      Suddenly, a low yip and a yowl issued through the air.

      "REESES!  REESES!  REEEEEEESSESSS!"

      "What the?!" Kenta gasped, startled.

      Out of nowhere, a small Leomon puppet hovered down from the sky and waved its paws happily.  "ROWRRR!"

      "Pipi!?" Marine Angemon blinked repeatedly.

      "... A Leomon puppet...?" Justimon stared.

      The puppet hovered down to look at Lady Devimon.  "Reeeeseees?"

      Lady Devimon pretended to sob as she pointed at the Tamers and their digimon.  "Oh... It's TERRIBLE!" she 'sobbed'.  "THEY... ATE... IT... ALL... UP!"

      "... REEEEEESSEEESSS!" the Leomon puppet whirled to glare at the Tamers, its eyes glowing a brilliant red.

      Justimon drew back slightly, wary of an attack from the puppet.

      "What is that thing?" Hirokazu muttered.

      "OH DEAR!" Guardromon squeaked.

      Kenta pulled out his D-Arc and attempted to scan the puppet.  "... 'No data'?" he read worriedly.  "Uh oh..."

      "Pipipi!" Marine Angemon exclaimed.

      The Leomon puppet suddenly began to dance, waving its paws about as it 'grooved'.

      The Tamers and their digimon suddenly started to jerk as they lost control of their bodies.  They unable to stop themselves as they started dancing like the Leomon puppet.

      "What is this!?" Justimon cried as he struggled to stop himself from dancing.

      "Rawr, rawr yip!  Yip yap yup!" the Leomon puppet snickered as it danced, then twirled about and wiggled it's 'butt' in a dancing manner.

      "Pipipi," Marine Angemon blinked as he twirled.

      "You said it," Kenta boggled, blushing as his butt was made to wiggle along with the puppet.

      "H-hey!" Hirokazu squeaked as he wiggled back and forth as well.

      "Oh deeeeaaaar!" Guardromon cried as he wiggled.

      The Leomon puppet whirled about as it danced, happily.

      "RAWWWRRRR!"

**_*~*_**

      The phone rang noisily within Hypnos' lab.

      Yamaki glanced up from the computer monitor he had been looking over before walking over to answer it.  "Yamaki here," he said calmly.

      A low chattering could be heard, muffled.

      "... I see.  How are they fairing?"

      Yamaki made a face.

      "The digimon are gone?"

      He paused to listen.

      "What are the kids still doing there then!?"

      Yamaki suddenly fell over.

      "..."

      He staggered to his feet, his composure lost.

      "They're WHAT?!"

      The phone chattered again, urgently.

      "They're... DANCING... in WOMENS' UNDERWEAR!?"

      Yamaki hung up the phone after a few moments.

      "...  ...  ... I need a drink."

**_*~*_**

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and seventy eight..."

      ChibiBa panted heavily as he dragged himself along the ground, looking thoroughly exhausted with each step.

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and seventy-nine...," he huffed, taking yet another pained step.

      "Can't... we... stop... NOW... Chibi... Ba...?" Guilmon panted, his entire body drooping, as he was barely able to make each step while he followed ChibiBa.

      "Seven thousand... two hundred... and EIGHTY!" he gasped, then suddenly collapsed to his butt.  "YES... NOW we stop..."

      "Yaaaay...," Guilmon gasped before he fell over.  He lay flopped over onto the ground, gasping for air and looking thoroughly hot, sweaty, and exhausted.  He closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to just sleep for about a week.

      ChibiBa was a brutal trainer.

      ChibiBa gasped for air as he wiped at his brow, chuckling.  "That was a good warm up!" he smirked.

      His only response was a loud snore.

      "..." ChibiBa glanced at Guilmon and scowled.  "... Oh come on.  You're tired from THAT?"

      Guilmon couldn't respond as he continued snoring loudly, deeply asleep.

      ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

      "Nyar, he's tired!"

      "Very, very tired!"

      ChibiBa blinked and looked up.  "... Eh?"

      Floating above the two tired dinosaur digimon was the familiar pair of Black Tailmon and Opossomon, the former holding on tightly to the latter's paw as he drifted overhead by his balloons.

      "Lookie who's trespassing!" Opossomon said cheerfully.

      "... Huh?" ChibiBa blinked repeatedly.  "... Aren't you...?"

      "Nyar, he looks like he needs a nap too!" Black Tailmon giggled.

      "Yup!" Opossomon giggled wickedly.  "Shall we tuck him in?"

      "Please do!" Black Tailmon purred.

      "... HEY!" ChibiBa's eyes widened with recognition.  "You ARE-!"

      "CUTE!" Opossomon interrupted cheerfully.  With a snap of his tail, he popped one of the balloons, revealing an anvil that had somehow managed to hide within its confines and yet still didn't keep the balloon from floating.

      ChibiBa blinked and stared, eyes wide.  "Eh?"

      ChibiBa didn't have any time to dodge as the anvil fell from the sky and landed with a loud clang onto his head.

      ChibiBa let out a yelp before he toppled over, knocked out.

      "That worked, nyar," Black Tailmon blinked.

      "Aww...  His head didn't go squish!" Opossomon sulked.  "Or make an accordion noise either!"

      "Be thankful it knocked him out or he'd have gotten nasty," Black Tailmon snorted.

      Opossomon blinked as he tilted his head.  "... Toilet duty?" he ventured.

      "... No," Black Tailmon shook her head.  "If he wakes up, the first thing he'll do is kill us."

      "Aww...," Opossomon sulked.

      "We're going to have to lock him up really good," Black Tailmon nodded.  "... Then we can throw things at him."

      "Like Sheepmon?"

      "Nyar, sounds like a plan."


	43. Shadows of the Past

Authors' Notes: It shouldn't be a surprise now, but we don't own Digimon... just our characters and this story!  Don't take 'em, okay?  Sorry for taking so long... it's kinda overdue... but at least it's here now, right? XD;;;

      This is the uncensored version, so if you don't like kawaii yaoi (I'm a poet!) you should go to the censored version.

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 30: Shadows of the Past_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      The rain had finally stopped, and although the clouds with some of the water remained, it helped Takato and Tsuyosa trudge through the mud, knowing that they weren't going to be caught in another flood.

      Tsuyosa walked by Takato, his expression calm and relaxed as he hefted his backpack.  "Incredible... that it'd stop raining to become such a nice day."

      "Yeah," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa, feeling quite content despite the fact that the two of them were separated from their friends.  "It makes things easier."

      Tsuyosa smiled back, and then glanced at the sky.  "It's actually a very pretty sky when it's not covered with dark clouds."

      Tsuyosa suddenly paused, then giggled and pointed at one of the white fluffy clouds overhead.  "Look, it's a fish."

      Takato looked up towards the clusters of nearly white clouds.  "... Yeah, I think I see it," he said as he tilted his head slightly.

      Tsuyosa smiled and tilted his head.  "... Though, if you tilt your head... it looks like ChibiBa yelling at someone."

      Takato tilted his head further and blinked.  "Yeah."  He then blinked as he wondered why he got the idea that the cloud next to the one in question looked a little like him.

      He shrugged off that thought and then looked at Tsuyosa.  Blushing slightly, he slipped his arm around the other Tamer's waist, pulling him closer.

      Tsuyosa squeaked, then flushed and timidly leaned closer to Takato.  He walked slowly with the other boy, enjoying his warmth.

      Idly he looked up at the clouds as the two walked closely together.  "... Have you noticed that we haven't eaten anything?  I mean... it's not that I'm hungry...  I just don't feel hungry.  Isn't that weird?" Tsuyosa muttered, surprisingly calm.

      "Yeah, but for some reason humans don't need to eat here," Takato shrugged.  "I thought it was weird too when I found out about it last time we came here."  He then smiled at Tsuyosa.  "But it does come in handy."

      Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled back.  "Yeah... guess so," he snickered, quietly.

      Takato couldn't help but snicker a little himself.  He then looked around at their surroundings.  "... I wonder where the exit to this place is," he muttered absently.

      "... I don't know... but what are those lights up there?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "Is that normal?"

      Takato blinked and then looked up.  His eyes widened as he saw a familiar pink light as it pierced through the clouds.  "A data stream!" he gasped.

      "Wait... is that what separated us before!?" Tsuyosa paled drastically.

      Takato was unable to answer as the data stream came upon them.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon rolled over with a grunt, slowly waking up.  He grunted again as he rolled in to something soft, then blinked repeatedly as something told him he should wake.

      He noticed a distinct lack of clothing as his bandanna and gloves were not on his person.  He was still warm despite that fact, however, as he was in the bed and wrapped up in a large and warm blanket; as well as a pair of arms, which held him gently around his waist.

      It was then that he realized one major thing; he wasn't Beelzebumon anymore.

      "Rrr...?  Wha?" Impmon looked around, slightly disoriented and still rather sleepy.  "What...?"

      "Good morning, Impmon," Sera said softly, a light blush on her cheeks as she smiled tenderly at Impmon, lying closely and comfortably beside him.

      "S-Sera...," Impmon blinked, and then blushed brightly.  "... Morning."

      "Sleep well?" Sera asked, bringing one hand up to idly rub one of Impmon's ears softly.

      "... Yeah...," Impmon flushed a little brighter, and then itched the back of his head hesitantly.  He didn't know what to think.  He mentally scolded himself for dropping his barriers, if not for his own safety then for Sera's.  He didn't trust himself, especially given everything that had happened.

      "I'm glad..."  Sera leaned in to place a soft kiss on Impmon's forehead.  "I... really enjoyed last night...," she confessed softly, her cheeks flushing more deeply.

      Impmon blinked repeatedly, then fidgeted and grinned sheepishly at the kiss.  "Y-yeah... me too..."  He knew he sounded lame, and his face flushed brightly to prove it, but he didn't dare let himself say anything else.  He wanted to tell her he was a threat and she shouldn't enjoy his company, but another part of him whispered that he'd lose her if he did.

      Sera smiled tenderly at Impmon as her fingers softly brushed against his ears.  She was silent for a few moments, as there was so much she wanted to tell him.  Just saying that she enjoyed what they did the previous night seemed so inadequate to how she felt about it.  It was so wonderful that words couldn't begin to describe it.

      Finally she decided that, instead of trying, she would just say how she felt towards him.  "I love you, Impmon...," she whispered, the words coming easily, like flowing water.

      Impmon fought his urge to tense as the words had the exact opposite affect, though he refused to let Sera see that.  She loved him?  How could she keep saying that?  He was a murderer; she shouldn't even associate with him, let alone love him.  However, he just couldn't bring himself to say so.  Instead, he simply blushed brighter and nodded.

      Sera smiled little more, although she had the feeling that there was something amiss with Impmon.  She didn't want to ask, however, as that might only upset him.  Instead she continued her gentle rubbing of her partner's ears as she held him close, willing the moment to make him feel as wonderful as it had made her feel.

      Impmon began to relax in spite of himself, as he couldn't help but enjoy the touches.  After a small inward debate with himself, he decided to try to ignore his troubles and allow himself the luxury of Sera caressing him so intimately.  He started to purr softly and was seriously tempted to stay put in his Tamer's arms and allow her to continue.

      However, the moment didn't last very long as he suddenly remembered why they were in the Digital World to begin with.  The thought was a sobering one.

      Impmon sighed wearily and fumbled up out of the bed, slipping out of Sera's arms and looking around for his clothing.  He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if Shuichon was hurt because he spent all his time snuggling in someone else's igloo.

      Sera sighed as well as she let Impmon go.  As much as she wanted to fight him to stay in bed, she couldn't help but remember why they were in the Digital World as well.  She sat up and adjusted her clothes slightly as she tried to sort out her thoughts.  Idly noticed the irony of the situation.

      She blinked as she noticed him looking around and figured he was wondering where his clothes were.  "... I woke up a little bit ago and put your clothes on the table," she said quietly.  "I didn't want them to get burned by staying so close to the heater."

      "Ah... thanks...," Impmon nodded, flushing almost instinctively, then trotted over to the table to grab his gloves and bandanna.

      Impmon noticed that Sera was fully dressed as he slipped on his gloves and bandanna.  He realized she must have woken up first, got dressed, and then climbed in to the bed to cuddle with him.  He flushed at the very thought.

      However, he noticed something else as well.  The bed was torn as if in a blind rage.  Obviously, he had torn the bed during the night and hadn't paid attention.

      Impmon glanced at his claws, shakily.  He had clawed the bed up rather brutally with his claws.  What if he had sliced up Sera on accident like he had the bed?  It was an all too real and horrifying possibility.

      Impmon shivered as he felt a horrible chill that didn't come from the weather outside and shook his head slowly.  He was a threat to Sera and to everyone he came in contact with.

      Sera slid over to the edge of the bed, taking care to avoid the parts that were torn, and reached for her boots that lay haphazardly on the floor.  As she slipped on her boots she couldn't help but keep glancing at Impmon, wanting to say something, but having no idea as to what.

      "..."  Impmon glanced at Sera, and then coughed.  He didn't want to tell Sera his thoughts.  He knew that he at least owed her that much, but he couldn't help feeling selfish.  He didn't want to chase her away, but he didn't want to hurt her either.  "Let's go...  I don't have the energy to evolve to Mega just yet but I'll figure something out."

      "... Uh... right...," Sera nodded as she stood up, deciding it was best to give both Impmon and herself time to deal with their emotions.  She glanced around, double-checking to see if she left anything behind before she picked up her backpack.

      "Brrrrr," Impmon grumbled, secretly thankful Sera allowed the subject change, as he peered out the door.  "It's still cold out there."

      "Oh!  That reminds me," Sera exclaimed before opening her backpack.  She rooted around inside of it for a moment before pulling out a couple pieces of clothing from her bag.  One of the items was a thick dark purple jacket, which she slipped on.  The other was revealed to be a small but thick red jacket, which she held out to Impmon.  "Here... I brought this for you."

      Impmon blinked at the jacket, then slipped it on and snickered.  "Ooo, toasty!"

      Sera smiled and giggled lightly as she zipped up her backpack.  "I'm glad you like it."  She slipped her pack on and then stood up.

      "I guess you don't have one of those snowmobiles in your backpack?" Impmon arched an eyebrow.

      Sera shook her head, smiling.  "Nope, sorry."

      "Darn," Impmon muttered.  "If only I had Behemoth..."

      "Who's Behemoth?" Sera blinked.

      "My bike," Impmon glared at the floor.  "... Used to have one."

      "Oh," Sera blinked, the image of Impmon riding a bicycle coming to her mind.  She would have giggled and made a comment at the thought, but considering his mood about it, she decided that wouldn't be wise.

      "It was pretty cool... but it was blown up," Impmon continued, softly.

      "Oh...  I'm sorry," Sera said quietly as she kneeled down next to Impmon, and then took him into her arms.

      "My fault, anyway," Impmon shrugged.

      "Hmm?"  Sera tilted her head slightly.

      Impmon shrugged again.

      After a few moments of silence Sera realized Impmon wasn't going to answer her, so she stood up, carrying him in her arms.  "Well...  I guess I'll carry you then," she said, smiling.  "The snow's too cold for bare feet, and I didn't think about bringing boots for you to wear."

      "I'm fine, toots," Impmon shrugged.  "I'm tough.  Don't need boots."

      "I'm still carrying you," Sera proclaimed as she headed for the door.

      "..." Impmon blinked.  "... I can walk!"

      "I know, but I'm still carrying you," Sera said cheerfully as she opened the door and walked out into the cold.

      "... I ain't a doll!" Impmon flailed.

      "Who said you were?" Sera asked innocently as she walked through the snow.

      "I don't need to be carried," Impmon grunted.  "If anyone saw be being carried, I'd be a laughing stock!"

      "We're out in the middle of nowhere you know," Sera pointed out.  "Who's going to see you?"

      "ANYONE!" Impmon muttered, the paled.  "TERRIERMON!"

      "Hmm?  Where?" Sera 'asked' as she pretended to look around for Terriermon.

      "If he saw me, it'd be worse than death!" Impmon shivered.  "I'd NEVER hear the end of it!"

      "But he's seen me carry you before," Sera pointed out.  "Remember?"

      "..."  Impmon stuck out his tongue.  "DETAILS!"

      "And he did see you in Hello Kitty skating gear...," Sera continued, trying to hide her smile, but ultimately failing.

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "Also, Terriermon gets carried around by his Tamer a lot," Sera pointed out, still trying to keep the smile off her face.

      "... But on his SHOULDERS!" Impmon pointed at his own shoulders for emphasis.  "Not like a dolly!"

      "But you're not a doll."  Sera couldn't help but smile brightly.  "You're much cuter than any of the Impmon plushies I've ever seen."

      "..."  Impmon fixed Sera with a look.  "Are you doin' dis on purpose?"

      Sera looked away and tried her best to look innocent.  "Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked, although her teasing tone gave her away.

      "I can tell."  Impmon scowled.

      "Why would I want to tease you?" Sera continued feigning innocence.  "I mean, who would want to tease someone so cute as you?"  She looked at him and smiled cutely, yet with a hint of mischief.  "Unless of course it's to cheer you up."

      Impmon's eyes widened as he blushed, then itched at his chin.  He definitely needed cheering up but he didn't like being teased.  He supposed he was in a no-win situation, so he simply sighed.  "... Let's go..."

      Impmon adjusted his jacket, then crossed his arms and sulked irritably.

      Sera finally stopped smiling mischievously as she hugged Impmon, still tromping through the thick, slushy snow.  "... Did I go too far?" she asked gently.

      "Humph," Impmon pouted.

      "Sorry," Sera said softly as she cuddled Impmon close.

      Impmon snorted in response as his feet dangled over the ground, obviously set on pouting just a little longer.

      "Hmm..."  Sera looked thoughtfully at Impmon for a minute or two.  "... Would a kiss make you feel better?" she asked, smiling impishly again.

      "... Probably!" Impmon grinned weakly.  He knew he shouldn't want a kiss from Sera, especially given how much trouble he was.  However, he was selfish, and he knew it.

      Sera smiled sweetly before she closed her eyes and leaned down towards Impmon.  Impmon blushed, quickly debating whether he should go through with it before he leaned up to meet her, mentally berating himself for being so selfish.

      "Now isn't that cute."

      Impmon paused as his eyes widened drastically.

      Sera blinked and quickly turned towards the source of the unexpected voice.  "Who's there?" she asked.

      A dark shadow dove over top the two before a massive digimon landed in front of them, crushing the snow underneath it.  It was hunched forward, with long, scrawny arms and legs that attached hideous looking claws to a sick, twisted body.  Its long neck weaved back and forth, barely covered by its course yellow hair, as it smirked, its piercing yellow eyes focusing in on Impmon.  It grinned toothily, displaying rows of small sharp teeth, and leaned closer.

      "... It's been a while, hasn't it?" the digimon 'purred', its voice coarse and guttural.

      "... Diaboromon," Impmon squeaked, so quiet it was if he hadn't spoken.

      Sera tensed and took a couple steps back as she recognized the digimon even without the use of her D-Arc to scan it.  "Diaboromon...," she breathed.

      "What do you want?" Impmon whispered.

      "Is that any way to greet an old 'friend'?" Diaboromon hissed.

      "..." Impmon narrowed his eyes.  "Too bad you're not a friend."

      "True, true," Diaboromon 'purred'.  "It IS hard to be friends with a monster."

      "...  ..."  Impmon set his jaw.  "... Stop it."

      "... Impmon...?  Do you know this guy...?" Sera whispered quietly to her partner.

      Impmon didn't respond.

      "Stop what?" Diaboromon asked 'innocently'.  "I haven't done anything."  It smiled in a cruel manner.  "Unlike you."

      "... Shut up," Impmon growled.

      "Why?" Diaboromon antagonized, its teeth glinting dangerously in the light.  "Will you use your Double Impact on me?  Or even your Darkness Claws?"

      "... No," Impmon muttered.

      Diaboromon chuckled, its voice without mirth.  "Strange.  That's not what you did last time we met."  It grinned even wider, like a shark.  "Or should I say, the time before last?"

      "...  ...  ..."  Impmon glared at the snow, refusing to look up.

      "... What's Diaboromon talking about, Impmon?" Sera blinked, confused and a little scared that Diaboromon was going to attack them.

      "..."  Impmon remained silent.

      Diaboromon directed its gaze to Sera for a moment before it returned its attention to Impmon.  "So...  I suppose this human is your Tamer," it 'purred'.  "Didn't have enough power from the data you stole?"

      "...  ... Shut up...," Impmon hissed.

      Sera stared from Impmon to Diaboromon and back, utterly confused as to what was happening.

      Diaboromon chuckled humorlessly.  "She doesn't even have the slightest idea, does she?" it 'crooned'.

      "..."  Impmon refused to look up.  "... Just stop it."

      "...?" Sera blinked.

      "Or what?  You'll evolve and kill me?" Diaboromon asked, the horrible, humorless grin still on its face.

      "... No.  I won't," Impmon grunted, his voice coarse.

      "Why?" Diaboromon asked, the smile at last disappearing as its voice became cold and hard.  "What makes now different than before... when you killed virtually all my brethren without regret."

      "..."  Impmon flinched visibly, and then closed his eyes.  "... I'm sorry."

      "... 'Sorry'?  You say you're SORRY?" Diaboromon growled.  "Why apologize now?  Because I'm a Mega and you're a Rookie?  You laughed and took sport in us when we were only Champions and you were a Mega.  You enjoyed hearing our screams as we were deleted.  You boasted that fact yourself."

      "... My level has nothing to do with it...," Impmon whispered.  "... I'd still apologize, even if our roles were reversed..."

      Sera stared at Diaboromon and Impmon, stunned speechless.  What Diaboromon said couldn't be true, could it?

      "Why?" Diaboromon hissed before it glanced at Sera again.  "Is it because your Tamer is here?"

      "... No... I felt this way before I met her...," Impmon muttered.  "... I made a huge mistake... and I'm sorry...  I'm trying to fix it... but that doesn't... really change things..."

      "You're right it doesn't," Diaboromon hissed as it narrowed its eyes at Impmon.  "We should have killed you when we had the chance.  After you fought those humans and their partners.  We watched that battle from a distance.  Those of us that survived your slaughter that is.  We wished for them to kill you."

      "... They should have," Impmon agreed, weakly.  "I was kinda wishing they had, too."

      "... Impmon...?" Sera whispered, horrified, as her eyes widened.

      "..." Impmon refused to look at Sera.

      "They should have killed you and absorbed your data like you did to us and the Devas," Diaboromon snarled.  "And to that Leomon."  It narrowed its eyes into slits.  "Why that Leomon's partner wished to spare you is beyond comprehension."

      Sera stared at Diaboromon in horror and disbelief before she turned her gaze back to Impmon.

      "... Do you remember when I mentioned that Juri used to be a Tamer?  And her partner, Leomon, died in the Digital World?" Impmon muttered, shakily.  "... He died because I killed him."  He paused, and then looked up at Diaboromon.  "... And you're right... they should have.  I would have deserved it."

      Sera tried to speak, but she couldn't.  It was impossible for her to get past the shock.

      "You still deserve it," Diaboromon snarled.  "You deserve to be constantly killed and reborn so that you'd suffer for eternity...  Like those that have to live on in the void you tore."

      "I know...  I KNOW!  You don't think I KNOW that!?" Impmon whimpered, covering his face.  "I KNOW!"

      Diaboromon pointed a claw at Impmon.  "Not even the D-Reaper was as much a monster as you.  It acted without emotion.  You did it because you delighted in it.  Your cruelty knows no bounds."

      "..."  Impmon shivered, then looked up at Diaboromon.  "... What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm SORRY?"

      "Prove it," Diaboromon spat.  "Evolve into Mega.  Now."

      "..."  Impmon nodded.  With a grunt, he squirmed out of Sera's arms and dropped to the ground.  Slowly, he slipped off his jacket and tossed it to Sera.  "... Here..."

      Sera barely had the sense to catch it as she stared at Impmon.  "...  ... Impmon...," was all that she could say.

      Impmon simply shrugged as the wind picked up, blowing a blast of snow that completely covered him.  When the wind cleared, Beelzebumon stood where Impmon had been only seconds before.

      Diaboromon glared at Impmon as it reared back slightly, twitching its claws as if in anticipation.  "Now.  Fight me," it hissed.

      "... I don't want to fight you...," Beelzebumon grunted as he stood before the other Mega, his shoulders and wings slumped in an obvious sign that he lacked the will to fight.  He showed no sign of hostility or aggression, his arms draped to his sides.

      "... Then you will die."  Diaboromon snarled and used its spindly legs to launch itself towards Beelzebumon, its claws outstretched.

      Beelzebumon didn't even try to move before Diaboromon hit him, sending him tumbling across the ground.  He came to a stop with a pained grunt, and then simply fumbled to his feet.

      Diaboromon snarled like a wounded beast as it gave Beelzebumon no time to recover, delivering vicious slashes across his chest.  Beelzebumon flinched but held his ground, still showing no interest in fighting back.

      Diaboromon growled, enraged, as it raked its claws into Beelzebumon, tearing his clothing apart.  Beelzebumon gasped in pain, curling up in to a ball, but showed no signs of resistance.

      "Beelzebumon!" Sera gasped, her eyes widening as she watched Diaboromon viciously attack Beelzebumon.

      Diaboromon tore into Beelzebumon's wings and back as he crouched into a ball, roaring in rage.  Beelzebumon cringed as his wings slumped, torn and bloody.  He refused to move, simply content to shiver with pain as his blood tainted the snow.

      "Stop it!" Sera cried.  Quickly she reached into the card case attached to her belt, and fumbled as she looked through her cards franticly, dropping the jacket she had been holding in the process.

      "Stay out of this!" Beelzebumon grunted, his voice choked.

      Diaboromon snarled as it reared back again, before it lashed out with both claws at Beelzebumon.  The deadly razors never reached their mark however, as a shield appeared between them and the wounded Mega.

      Beelzebumon fumbled up and glowered.  "I told... I told you to stay out of this..."

      "But-!" Sera tried to speak, but was unable to finish as Diaboromon snarled in a feral manner.

      "Fight me without your human!" it spat.

      Beelzebumon grabbed the shield and threw it aside with a pained grunt.  "I don't need your help..."

      "Beelzebumon...," Sera choked.

      Diaboromon lunged again once the shield was tossed aside, and slashed at Beelzebumon without mercy, clawing up his chest and face viciously.  Beelzebumon yelped as he fell backwards to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

      "Why won't you fight me!?" Diaboromon snarled as it lashed out at Beelzebumon again, cutting hard enough into him to toss the other Mega a good number of meters away.

      Beelzebumon hit the ground with a pained grunt, and then struggled to try and stand up. However, his arms gave way in the process and he collapsed to the ground with a yelp.

      "Beelzebumon!" Sera cried.

      "STAY OUT OF IT!" Beelzebumon barked, before he coughed up blood.

      Diaboromon slowly approached Beelzebumon, its bloody claws at its sides.  "I've had enough of this.  I'm ending it now," it growled.  Diaboromon snarled and lunged at Beelzebumon, murder glinting in its eyes.

      "NOOOO!!!" Sera screamed as she ran towards the two Megas.  She skidded in the snow as she came to a halt in front of Beelzebumon, her arms wide at her sides in an attempt to block Diaboromon's attack.

      "SERA!" Beelzebumon snarled.  "JUST STAY OUT OF IT, DAMN IT!"

      Diaboromon skidded to a halt, its claws stopping bare centimeters from Sera's body.  "... Stupid human," it spat.  "Listen to your 'partner'."

      "Sera... MOVE..." Beelzebumon coughed.

      Sera trembled, but held her ground.  "... I won't.  I can't," she whimpered, her voice wavering as tears fell from her eyes.  She looked over her shoulder at Beelzebumon.  "I can't let you die!"

      "... It's not your choice, Sera...," Beelzebumon muttered.  "It's mine."

      "... ... ... Beelzebumon... ..."  Sera shook violently as she turned her tearful gaze away from Beelzebumon.  "..."  She tensed, forcing her shaking into a slight tremor as she looked at Diaboromon.  "...  If you want to kill Beelzebumon... then you'll have to kill me first!" she said, her voice hard.

      "SERA!" Beelzebumon hissed as he fumbled to get up to his feet.  "Just... stop it."

      Sera kept her gaze trained on Diaboromon, ready to get in the way should the Mega choose to attack at any moment.  "... I love you... Beelzebumon... and... if you die... I will too... ... one way or another..."

      "... Sera... go help the others... they need you... just go...," Beelzebumon muttered shakily.

      Diaboromon silently watched Sera and Beelzebumon, its claws still dangerously close to the young girl.

      "... You need me more...," Sera whispered, her voice choked.  "... If it's your choice... to let Diaboromon kill you... then I have no choice..."  She trailed off.  "... I won't... let you die... ... not while I'm still alive..."

      "... Move... or I'll go AROUND you," Beelzebumon's eyes narrowed.  "... You know what happened...  I deserve it."

      "... I know," Sera whispered, still not looking at Beelzebumon.  "... I know... what you did... but you don't deserve to die...  ...  Even if... if you were like that in the past... you're not like that now...!  You don't deserve this!"

      Beelzebumon fumbled back away from Sera, his eyes locked on Diaboromon.  "... You didn't lose someone important to you... you don't... have the right to decide what I do and... don't deserve.  ... He does."

      "...  ...  ... If I move... then I will...  I'll lose you..."  Sera let out a soft sob.  "... I can't... I can't let that happen...  ... I love you...  You're the most important person in my life...  ... I can't live without you..."

      "... You'd be better off without me...  I'll end up hurting you, too."  Beelzebumon fumbled back some more, then slipped and fell to the ground in a heap.

      Diaboromon focused its gaze on Beelzebumon, its expression unreadable.

      "... Just get it over with...," Beelzebumon whispered.

      Diaboromon leapt over Sera, landing next to Beelzebumon as snow was crushed underfoot.  It leaned in close to the other Mega, hissing.

      "NO!" Sera cried as she whirled.

      "Why?" Diaboromon hissed, its face centimeters away from Beelzebumon's.

      Beelzebumon flinched slightly at the sudden closeness and swallowed.

      "... Because I deserve it..."

      "NO!!!" Sera screamed as she darted towards the two Megas.

      Diaboromon glanced back at Sera for a moment before it grabbed Beelzebumon's jacket and hefted him upwards before jumping away with a mighty leap.  It did a quick series of jumps until they were a great distance away from the frightened Tamer and well out of sight.

      Beelzebumon gasped sharply and glanced around, shocked and uncertain as to what was happening.

      Diaboromon came to a stop once it was certain that it was far enough away for Sera to be unable to interfere again.  It tossed Beelzebumon to the ground, snarling in disgust as if touching the other Mega sickened him.  "Why?" it repeated.

      "... Because I DESERVE it," Beelzebumon grunted, weakly.

      "Why the change of heart?" Diaboromon hissed, eyes narrowed.

      "..."  Beelzebumon stared at the snow, finding it suddenly very interesting.  "... I've felt this way ever since I saw her eyes... Leomon's Tamer... she looked so dead inside... and it was my fault.  ... She's better now... but she went through so much because of me...  I didn't... I didn't want it to end up that way.  ... All I wanted was to be strong... to be able to stand up for myself and not get bullied around...  I never... intended to BECOME one."

      "..."  Diaboromon hissed and grabbed Beelzebumon's jacket, hoisting him upwards.  It glared into his eyes, as their faces were scant millimeters away from each other.

      Beelzebumon's eyes widened at the sudden action, totally unprepared.  Diaboromon glared into Beelzebumon's eyes long and hard as it hissed to itself.

      Beelzebumon felt weak, his eyes were wide and staring.  He couldn't look away, as if paralyzed, and tried to will away the sudden illness that surged through his body.  Diaboromon's scrutiny bothered him, as if the Mega were peering in to his soul through his green eyes.

      "..."  Diaboromon hissed louder as it let Beelzebumon go.

      Beelzebumon yelped as he hit the snow rather painfully, and then stared up at Diaboromon in confusion.

      "..."  Diaboromon looked down at Beelzebumon, its expression unreadable.  "... You really do seem sincere," it hissed quietly.

      Beelzebumon blinked.

      "... But if I found out you lied..."  Diaboromon's eyes narrowed into slits.  "I'll come back and finish the job."

      With that Diaboromon leapt into the air and quickly bounded out of sight.

      Beelzebumon stared as Diaboromon bound off, his expression dumbfounded and shocked.  He continued to stare even as he heard Sera's cries as she ran towards his general area.

      "BEELZEBUMON!" Sera screamed, frantic, as she ran.  She looked around for any sign of Beelzebumon as she prayed that she get to him before Diaboromon killed him.

      "... Sera?" a small voice called, dazed and disoriented.

      Sera immediately whirled towards the voice and bolted towards it.

      As Sera crossed the snowy ground, she came across a bruised, battered, and very confused Impmon.  He turned to stare at her, his eyes wide, as he trembled.

      "Wha' the hell happened?" he asked.

      Sera didn't answer as she ran over to Impmon.  She fell to her knees as she came to a halt next to him, and immediately scooped him up into her arms.  "Impmon...  Oh, Impmon...," she whispered, tears in her eyes as she hugged him tightly.  She didn't know what happened, and she didn't care.  All that mattered was that her partner was still alive.

      Impmon blinked slowly before he slumped against Sera, exhausted.  "He left...," he muttered.

      "Thank God," Sera breathed shakily then laid her cheek atop Impmon's head.  "... Please... please... don't... don't ever do that again...  Please..."

      "..."  Impmon shivered, and then closed his eyes.


	44. Shadows of the Past YaoiFree

Authors' Notes: It shouldn't be a surprise now, but we don't own Digimon... just our characters and this story!  Don't take 'em, okay?  Sorry for taking so long... it's kinda overdue... but at least it's here now, right? XD;;;

      This is the censored version, so if you WANT the kawaii yaoi (bwehehehehe), you should go to the uncensored version!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 30: Shadows of the Past_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      The rain had finally stopped, and although the clouds with some of the water remained, it helped Takato and Tsuyosa trudge through the mud, knowing that they weren't going to be caught in another flood.

      Tsuyosa walked by Takato, his expression calm and relaxed as he hefted his backpack.  "Incredible... that it'd stop raining to become such a nice day."

      "Yeah," Takato smiled at Tsuyosa, feeling quite content despite the fact that the two of them were separated from their friends.  "It makes things easier."

      Tsuyosa smiled back, and then glanced at the sky.  "It's actually a very pretty sky when it's not covered with dark clouds."

      Tsuyosa suddenly paused, then giggled and pointed at one of the white fluffy clouds overhead.  "Look, it's a fish."

      Takato looked up towards the clusters of nearly white clouds.  "... Yeah, I think I see it," he said as he tilted his head slightly.

      Tsuyosa smiled and tilted his head.  "... Though, if you tilt your head... it looks like ChibiBa yelling at someone."

      Takato tilted his head further and blinked.  "Yeah."  He then blinked as he wondered why he got the idea that the cloud next to the one in question looked a little like him.

      "... Have you noticed that we haven't eaten anything?  I mean... it's not that I'm hungry...  I just don't feel hungry.  Isn't that weird?" Tsuyosa muttered, surprisingly calm.

      "Yeah, but for some reason humans don't need to eat here," Takato shrugged.  "I thought it was weird too when I found out about it last time we came here."  He then smiled at Tsuyosa.  "But it does come in handy."

      Tsuyosa blinked, then smiled back.  "Yeah... guess so," he snickered, quietly.

      Takato couldn't help but snicker a little himself.  He then looked around at their surroundings.  "... I wonder where the exit to this place is," he muttered absently.

      "... I don't know... but what are those lights up there?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "Is that normal?"

      Takato blinked and then looked up.  His eyes widened as he saw a familiar pink light as it pierced through the clouds.  "A data stream!" he gasped.

      "Wait... is that what separated us before!?" Tsuyosa paled drastically.

      Takato was unable to answer as the data stream came upon them.

**_*~*_**

      Impmon rolled over with a grunt, slowly waking up.  He grunted again as he rolled in to something soft, then blinked repeatedly as something told him he should wake.

      He noticed a distinct lack of clothing as his bandanna and gloves were not on his person.  He was still warm despite that fact, however, as he was in the bed and wrapped up in a large and warm blanket; as well as a pair of arms, which held him gently around his waist.

      It was then that he realized one major thing; he wasn't Beelzebumon anymore.

      "Rrr...?  Wha?" Impmon looked around, slightly disoriented and still rather sleepy.  "What...?"

      "Good morning, Impmon," Sera said softly, a light blush on her cheeks as she smiled tenderly at Impmon, lying closely and comfortably beside him.

      "S-Sera...," Impmon blinked, and then blushed brightly.  "... Morning."

      "Sleep well?" Sera asked, bringing one hand up to idly rub one of Impmon's ears softly.

      "... Yeah...," Impmon flushed a little brighter, and then itched the back of his head hesitantly.  He didn't know what to think.  He mentally scolded himself for dropping his barriers, if not for his own safety then for Sera's.  He didn't trust himself, especially given everything that had happened.

      "I'm glad..."  Sera leaned in to place a soft kiss on Impmon's forehead.  "I... really enjoyed last night...," she confessed softly, her cheeks flushing more deeply.

      Impmon blinked repeatedly, then fidgeted and grinned sheepishly at the kiss.  "Y-yeah... me too..."  He knew he sounded lame, and his face flushed brightly to prove it, but he didn't dare let himself say anything else.  He wanted to tell her he was a threat and she shouldn't enjoy his company, but another part of him whispered that he'd lose her if he did.

      Sera smiled tenderly at Impmon as her fingers softly brushed against his ears.  She was silent for a few moments, as there was so much she wanted to tell him.  Just saying that she enjoyed what they did the previous night seemed so inadequate to how she felt about it.  It was so wonderful that words couldn't begin to describe it.

      Finally she decided that, instead of trying, she would just say how she felt towards him.  "I love you, Impmon...," she whispered, the words coming easily, like flowing water.

      Impmon fought his urge to tense as the words had the exact opposite affect, though he refused to let Sera see that.  She loved him?  How could she keep saying that?  He was a murderer; she shouldn't even associate with him, let alone love him.  However, he just couldn't bring himself to say so.  Instead, he simply blushed brighter and nodded.

      Sera smiled little more, although she had the feeling that there was something amiss with Impmon.  She didn't want to ask, however, as that might only upset him.  Instead she continued her gentle rubbing of her partner's ears as she held him close, willing the moment to make him feel as wonderful as it had made her feel.

      Impmon began to relax in spite of himself, as he couldn't help but enjoy the touches.  After a small inward debate with himself, he decided to try to ignore his troubles and allow himself the luxury of Sera caressing him so intimately.  He started to purr softly and was seriously tempted to stay put in his Tamer's arms and allow her to continue.

      However, the moment didn't last very long as he suddenly remembered why they were in the Digital World to begin with.  The thought was a sobering one.

      Impmon sighed wearily and fumbled up out of the bed, slipping out of Sera's arms and looking around for his clothing.  He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if Shuichon was hurt because he spent all his time snuggling in someone else's igloo.

      Sera sighed as well as she let Impmon go.  As much as she wanted to fight him to stay in bed, she couldn't help but remember why they were in the Digital World as well.  She sat up and adjusted her clothes slightly as she tried to sort out her thoughts.  Idly noticed the irony of the situation.

      She blinked as she noticed him looking around and figured he was wondering where his clothes were.  "... I woke up a little bit ago and put your clothes on the table," she said quietly.  "I didn't want them to get burned by staying so close to the heater."

      "Ah... thanks...," Impmon nodded, flushing almost instinctively, then trotted over to the table to grab his gloves and bandanna.

      Impmon noticed that Sera was fully dressed as he slipped on his gloves and bandanna.  He realized she must have woken up first, got dressed, and then climbed in to the bed to cuddle with him.  He flushed at the very thought.

      However, he noticed something else as well.  The bed was torn as if in a blind rage.  Obviously, he had torn the bed during the night and hadn't paid attention.

      Impmon glanced at his claws, shakily.  He had clawed the bed up rather brutally with his claws.  What if he had sliced up Sera on accident like he had the bed?  It was an all too real and horrifying possibility.

      Impmon shivered as he felt a horrible chill that didn't come from the weather outside and shook his head slowly.  He was a threat to Sera and to everyone he came in contact with.

      Sera slid over to the edge of the bed, taking care to avoid the parts that were torn, and reached for her boots that lay haphazardly on the floor.  As she slipped on her boots she couldn't help but keep glancing at Impmon, wanting to say something, but having no idea as to what.

      "..."  Impmon glanced at Sera, and then coughed.  He didn't want to tell Sera his thoughts.  He knew that he at least owed her that much, but he couldn't help feeling selfish.  He didn't want to chase her away, but he didn't want to hurt her either.  "Let's go...  I don't have the energy to evolve to Mega just yet but I'll figure something out."

      "... Uh... right...," Sera nodded as she stood up, deciding it was best to give both Impmon and herself time to deal with their emotions.  She glanced around, double-checking to see if she left anything behind before she picked up her backpack.

      "Brrrrr," Impmon grumbled, secretly thankful Sera allowed the subject change, as he peered out the door.  "It's still cold out there."

      "Oh!  That reminds me," Sera exclaimed before opening her backpack.  She rooted around inside of it for a moment before pulling out a couple pieces of clothing from her bag.  One of the items was a thick dark purple jacket, which she slipped on.  The other was revealed to be a small but thick red jacket, which she held out to Impmon.  "Here... I brought this for you."

      Impmon blinked at the jacket, then slipped it on and snickered.  "Ooo, toasty!"

      Sera smiled and giggled lightly as she zipped up her backpack.  "I'm glad you like it."  She slipped her pack on and then stood up.

      "I guess you don't have one of those snowmobiles in your backpack?" Impmon arched an eyebrow.

      Sera shook her head, smiling.  "Nope, sorry."

      "Darn," Impmon muttered.  "If only I had Behemoth..."

      "Who's Behemoth?" Sera blinked.

      "My bike," Impmon glared at the floor.  "... Used to have one."

      "Oh," Sera blinked, the image of Impmon riding a bicycle coming to her mind.  She would have giggled and made a comment at the thought, but considering his mood about it, she decided that wouldn't be wise.

      "It was pretty cool... but it was blown up," Impmon continued, softly.

      "Oh...  I'm sorry," Sera said quietly as she kneeled down next to Impmon, and then took him into her arms.

      "My fault, anyway," Impmon shrugged.

      "Hmm?"  Sera tilted her head slightly.

      Impmon shrugged again.

      After a few moments of silence Sera realized Impmon wasn't going to answer her, so she stood up, carrying him in her arms.  "Well...  I guess I'll carry you then," she said, smiling.  "The snow's too cold for bare feet, and I didn't think about bringing boots for you to wear."

      "I'm fine, toots," Impmon shrugged.  "I'm tough.  Don't need boots."

      "I'm still carrying you," Sera proclaimed as she headed for the door.

      "..." Impmon blinked.  "... I can walk!"

      "I know, but I'm still carrying you," Sera said cheerfully as she opened the door and walked out into the cold.

      "... I ain't a doll!" Impmon flailed.

      "Who said you were?" Sera asked innocently as she walked through the snow.

      "I don't need to be carried," Impmon grunted.  "If anyone saw be being carried, I'd be a laughing stock!"

      "We're out in the middle of nowhere you know," Sera pointed out.  "Who's going to see you?"

      "ANYONE!" Impmon muttered, the paled.  "TERRIERMON!"

      "Hmm?  Where?" Sera 'asked' as she pretended to look around for Terriermon.

      "If he saw me, it'd be worse than death!" Impmon shivered.  "I'd NEVER hear the end of it!"

      "But he's seen me carry you before," Sera pointed out.  "Remember?"

      "..."  Impmon stuck out his tongue.  "DETAILS!"

      "And he did see you in Hello Kitty skating gear...," Sera continued, trying to hide her smile, but ultimately failing.

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "Also, Terriermon gets carried around by his Tamer a lot," Sera pointed out, still trying to keep the smile off her face.

      "... But on his SHOULDERS!" Impmon pointed at his own shoulders for emphasis.  "Not like a dolly!"

      "But you're not a doll."  Sera couldn't help but smile brightly.  "You're much cuter than any of the Impmon plushies I've ever seen."

      "..."  Impmon fixed Sera with a look.  "Are you doin' dis on purpose?"

      Sera looked away and tried her best to look innocent.  "Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked, although her teasing tone gave her away.

      "I can tell."  Impmon scowled.

      "Why would I want to tease you?" Sera continued feigning innocence.  "I mean, who would want to tease someone so cute as you?"  She looked at him and smiled cutely, yet with a hint of mischief.  "Unless of course it's to cheer you up."

      Impmon's eyes widened as he blushed, then itched at his chin.  He definitely needed cheering up but he didn't like being teased.  He supposed he was in a no-win situation, so he simply sighed.  "... Let's go..."

      Impmon adjusted his jacket, then crossed his arms and sulked irritably.

      Sera finally stopped smiling mischievously as she hugged Impmon, still tromping through the thick, slushy snow.  "... Did I go too far?" she asked gently.

      "Humph," Impmon pouted.

      "Sorry," Sera said softly as she cuddled Impmon close.

      Impmon snorted in response as his feet dangled over the ground, obviously set on pouting just a little longer.

      "Hmm..."  Sera looked thoughtfully at Impmon for a minute or two.  "... Would a kiss make you feel better?" she asked, smiling impishly again.

      "... Probably!" Impmon grinned weakly.  He knew he shouldn't want a kiss from Sera, especially given how much trouble he was.  However, he was selfish, and he knew it.

      Sera smiled sweetly before she closed her eyes and leaned down towards Impmon.  Impmon blushed, quickly debating whether he should go through with it before he leaned up to meet her, mentally berating himself for being so selfish.

      "Now isn't that cute."

      Impmon paused as his eyes widened drastically.

      Sera blinked and quickly turned towards the source of the unexpected voice.  "Who's there?" she asked.

      A dark shadow dove over top the two before a massive digimon landed in front of them, crushing the snow underneath it.  It was hunched forward, with long, scrawny arms and legs that attached hideous looking claws to a sick, twisted body.  Its long neck weaved back and forth, barely covered by its course yellow hair, as it smirked, its piercing yellow eyes focusing in on Impmon.  It grinned toothily, displaying rows of small sharp teeth, and leaned closer.

      "... It's been a while, hasn't it?" the digimon 'purred', its voice coarse and guttural.

      "... Diaboromon," Impmon squeaked, so quiet it was if he hadn't spoken.

      Sera tensed and took a couple steps back as she recognized the digimon even without the use of her D-Arc to scan it.  "Diaboromon...," she breathed.

      "What do you want?" Impmon whispered.

      "Is that any way to greet an old 'friend'?" Diaboromon hissed.

      "..." Impmon narrowed his eyes.  "Too bad you're not a friend."

      "True, true," Diaboromon 'purred'.  "It IS hard to be friends with a monster."

      "...  ..."  Impmon set his jaw.  "... Stop it."

      "... Impmon...?  Do you know this guy...?" Sera whispered quietly to her partner.

      Impmon didn't respond.

      "Stop what?" Diaboromon asked 'innocently'.  "I haven't done anything."  It smiled in a cruel manner.  "Unlike you."

      "... Shut up," Impmon growled.

      "Why?" Diaboromon antagonized, its teeth glinting dangerously in the light.  "Will you use your Double Impact on me?  Or even your Darkness Claws?"

      "... No," Impmon muttered.

      Diaboromon chuckled, its voice without mirth.  "Strange.  That's not what you did last time we met."  It grinned even wider, like a shark.  "Or should I say, the time before last?"

      "...  ...  ..."  Impmon glared at the snow, refusing to look up.

      "... What's Diaboromon talking about, Impmon?" Sera blinked, confused and a little scared that Diaboromon was going to attack them.

      "..."  Impmon remained silent.

      Diaboromon directed its gaze to Sera for a moment before it returned its attention to Impmon.  "So...  I suppose this human is your Tamer," it 'purred'.  "Didn't have enough power from the data you stole?"

      "...  ... Shut up...," Impmon hissed.

      Sera stared from Impmon to Diaboromon and back, utterly confused as to what was happening.

      Diaboromon chuckled humorlessly.  "She doesn't even have the slightest idea, does she?" it 'crooned'.

      "..."  Impmon refused to look up.  "... Just stop it."

      "...?" Sera blinked.

      "Or what?  You'll evolve and kill me?" Diaboromon asked, the horrible, humorless grin still on its face.

      "... No.  I won't," Impmon grunted, his voice coarse.

      "Why?" Diaboromon asked, the smile at last disappearing as its voice became cold and hard.  "What makes now different than before... when you killed virtually all my brethren without regret."

      "..."  Impmon flinched visibly, and then closed his eyes.  "... I'm sorry."

      "... 'Sorry'?  You say you're SORRY?" Diaboromon growled.  "Why apologize now?  Because I'm a Mega and you're a Rookie?  You laughed and took sport in us when we were only Champions and you were a Mega.  You enjoyed hearing our screams as we were deleted.  You boasted that fact yourself."

      "... My level has nothing to do with it...," Impmon whispered.  "... I'd still apologize, even if our roles were reversed..."

      Sera stared at Diaboromon and Impmon, stunned speechless.  What Diaboromon said couldn't be true, could it?

      "Why?" Diaboromon hissed before it glanced at Sera again.  "Is it because your Tamer is here?"

      "... No... I felt this way before I met her...," Impmon muttered.  "... I made a huge mistake... and I'm sorry...  I'm trying to fix it... but that doesn't... really change things..."

      "You're right it doesn't," Diaboromon hissed as it narrowed its eyes at Impmon.  "We should have killed you when we had the chance.  After you fought those humans and their partners.  We watched that battle from a distance.  Those of us that survived your slaughter that is.  We wished for them to kill you."

      "... They should have," Impmon agreed, weakly.  "I was kinda wishing they had, too."

      "... Impmon...?" Sera whispered, horrified, as her eyes widened.

      "..." Impmon refused to look at Sera.

      "They should have killed you and absorbed your data like you did to us and the Devas," Diaboromon snarled.  "And to that Leomon."  It narrowed its eyes into slits.  "Why that Leomon's partner wished to spare you is beyond comprehension."

      Sera stared at Diaboromon in horror and disbelief before she turned her gaze back to Impmon.

      "... Do you remember when I mentioned that Juri used to be a Tamer?  And her partner, Leomon, died in the Digital World?" Impmon muttered, shakily.  "... He died because I killed him."  He paused, and then looked up at Diaboromon.  "... And you're right... they should have.  I would have deserved it."

      Sera tried to speak, but she couldn't.  It was impossible for her to get past the shock.

      "You still deserve it," Diaboromon snarled.  "You deserve to be constantly killed and reborn so that you'd suffer for eternity...  Like those that have to live on in the void you tore."

      "I know...  I KNOW!  You don't think I KNOW that!?" Impmon whimpered, covering his face.  "I KNOW!"

      Diaboromon pointed a claw at Impmon.  "Not even the D-Reaper was as much a monster as you.  It acted without emotion.  You did it because you delighted in it.  Your cruelty knows no bounds."

      "..."  Impmon shivered, then looked up at Diaboromon.  "... What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm SORRY?"

      "Prove it," Diaboromon spat.  "Evolve into Mega.  Now."

      "..."  Impmon nodded.  With a grunt, he squirmed out of Sera's arms and dropped to the ground.  Slowly, he slipped off his jacket and tossed it to Sera.  "... Here..."

      Sera barely had the sense to catch it as she stared at Impmon.  "...  ... Impmon...," was all that she could say.

      Impmon simply shrugged as the wind picked up, blowing a blast of snow that completely covered him.  When the wind cleared, Beelzebumon stood where Impmon had been only seconds before.

      Diaboromon glared at Impmon as it reared back slightly, twitching its claws as if in anticipation.  "Now.  Fight me," it hissed.

      "... I don't want to fight you...," Beelzebumon grunted as he stood before the other Mega, his shoulders and wings slumped in an obvious sign that he lacked the will to fight.  He showed no sign of hostility or aggression, his arms draped to his sides.

      "... Then you will die."  Diaboromon snarled and used its spindly legs to launch itself towards Beelzebumon, its claws outstretched.

      Beelzebumon didn't even try to move before Diaboromon hit him, sending him tumbling across the ground.  He came to a stop with a pained grunt, and then simply fumbled to his feet.

      Diaboromon snarled like a wounded beast as it gave Beelzebumon no time to recover, delivering vicious slashes across his chest.  Beelzebumon flinched but held his ground, still showing no interest in fighting back.

      Diaboromon growled, enraged, as it raked its claws into Beelzebumon, tearing his clothing apart.  Beelzebumon gasped in pain, curling up in to a ball, but showed no signs of resistance.

      "Beelzebumon!" Sera gasped, her eyes widening as she watched Diaboromon viciously attack Beelzebumon.

      Diaboromon tore into Beelzebumon's wings and back as he crouched into a ball, roaring in rage.  Beelzebumon cringed as his wings slumped, torn and bloody.  He refused to move, simply content to shiver with pain as his blood tainted the snow.

      "Stop it!" Sera cried.  Quickly she reached into the card case attached to her belt, and fumbled as she looked through her cards franticly, dropping the jacket she had been holding in the process.

      "Stay out of this!" Beelzebumon grunted, his voice choked.

      Diaboromon snarled as it reared back again, before it lashed out with both claws at Beelzebumon.  The deadly razors never reached their mark however, as a shield appeared between them and the wounded Mega.

      Beelzebumon fumbled up and glowered.  "I told... I told you to stay out of this..."

      "But-!" Sera tried to speak, but was unable to finish as Diaboromon snarled in a feral manner.

      "Fight me without your human!" it spat.

      Beelzebumon grabbed the shield and threw it aside with a pained grunt.  "I don't need your help..."

      "Beelzebumon...," Sera choked.

      Diaboromon lunged again once the shield was tossed aside, and slashed at Beelzebumon without mercy, clawing up his chest and face viciously.  Beelzebumon yelped as he fell backwards to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

      "Why won't you fight me!?" Diaboromon snarled as it lashed out at Beelzebumon again, cutting hard enough into him to toss the other Mega a good number of meters away.

      Beelzebumon hit the ground with a pained grunt, and then struggled to try and stand up. However, his arms gave way in the process and he collapsed to the ground with a yelp.

      "Beelzebumon!" Sera cried.

      "STAY OUT OF IT!" Beelzebumon barked, before he coughed up blood.

      Diaboromon slowly approached Beelzebumon, its bloody claws at its sides.  "I've had enough of this.  I'm ending it now," it growled.  Diaboromon snarled and lunged at Beelzebumon, murder glinting in its eyes.

      "NOOOO!!!" Sera screamed as she ran towards the two Megas.  She skidded in the snow as she came to a halt in front of Beelzebumon, her arms wide at her sides in an attempt to block Diaboromon's attack.

      "SERA!" Beelzebumon snarled.  "JUST STAY OUT OF IT, DAMN IT!"

      Diaboromon skidded to a halt, its claws stopping bare centimeters from Sera's body.  "... Stupid human," it spat.  "Listen to your 'partner'."

      "Sera... MOVE..." Beelzebumon coughed.

      Sera trembled, but held her ground.  "... I won't.  I can't," she whimpered, her voice wavering as tears fell from her eyes.  She looked over her shoulder at Beelzebumon.  "I can't let you die!"

      "... It's not your choice, Sera...," Beelzebumon muttered.  "It's mine."

      "... ... ... Beelzebumon... ..."  Sera shook violently as she turned her tearful gaze away from Beelzebumon.  "..."  She tensed, forcing her shaking into a slight tremor as she looked at Diaboromon.  "...  If you want to kill Beelzebumon... then you'll have to kill me first!" she said, her voice hard.

      "SERA!" Beelzebumon hissed as he fumbled to get up to his feet.  "Just... stop it."

      Sera kept her gaze trained on Diaboromon, ready to get in the way should the Mega choose to attack at any moment.  "... I love you... Beelzebumon... and... if you die... I will too... ... one way or another..."

      "... Sera... go help the others... they need you... just go...," Beelzebumon muttered shakily.

      Diaboromon silently watched Sera and Beelzebumon, its claws still dangerously close to the young girl.

      "... You need me more...," Sera whispered, her voice choked.  "... If it's your choice... to let Diaboromon kill you... then I have no choice..."  She trailed off.  "... I won't... let you die... ... not while I'm still alive..."

      "... Move... or I'll go AROUND you," Beelzebumon's eyes narrowed.  "... You know what happened...  I deserve it."

      "... I know," Sera whispered, still not looking at Beelzebumon.  "... I know... what you did... but you don't deserve to die...  ...  Even if... if you were like that in the past... you're not like that now...!  You don't deserve this!"

      Beelzebumon fumbled back away from Sera, his eyes locked on Diaboromon.  "... You didn't lose someone important to you... you don't... have the right to decide what I do and... don't deserve.  ... He does."

      "...  ...  ... If I move... then I will...  I'll lose you..."  Sera let out a soft sob.  "... I can't... I can't let that happen...  ... I love you...  You're the most important person in my life...  ... I can't live without you..."

      "... You'd be better off without me...  I'll end up hurting you, too."  Beelzebumon fumbled back some more, then slipped and fell to the ground in a heap.

      Diaboromon focused its gaze on Beelzebumon, its expression unreadable.

      "... Just get it over with...," Beelzebumon whispered.

      Diaboromon leapt over Sera, landing next to Beelzebumon as snow was crushed underfoot.  It leaned in close to the other Mega, hissing.

      "NO!" Sera cried as she whirled.

      "Why?" Diaboromon hissed, its face centimeters away from Beelzebumon's.

      Beelzebumon flinched slightly at the sudden closeness and swallowed.

      "... Because I deserve it..."

      "NO!!!" Sera screamed as she darted towards the two Megas.

      Diaboromon glanced back at Sera for a moment before it grabbed Beelzebumon's jacket and hefted him upwards before jumping away with a mighty leap.  It did a quick series of jumps until they were a great distance away from the frightened Tamer and well out of sight.

      Beelzebumon gasped sharply and glanced around, shocked and uncertain as to what was happening.

      Diaboromon came to a stop once it was certain that it was far enough away for Sera to be unable to interfere again.  It tossed Beelzebumon to the ground, snarling in disgust as if touching the other Mega sickened him.  "Why?" it repeated.

      "... Because I DESERVE it," Beelzebumon grunted, weakly.

      "Why the change of heart?" Diaboromon hissed, eyes narrowed.

      "..."  Beelzebumon stared at the snow, finding it suddenly very interesting.  "... I've felt this way ever since I saw her eyes... Leomon's Tamer... she looked so dead inside... and it was my fault.  ... She's better now... but she went through so much because of me...  I didn't... I didn't want it to end up that way.  ... All I wanted was to be strong... to be able to stand up for myself and not get bullied around...  I never... intended to BECOME one."

      "..."  Diaboromon hissed and grabbed Beelzebumon's jacket, hoisting him upwards.  It glared into his eyes, as their faces were scant millimeters away from each other.

      Beelzebumon's eyes widened at the sudden action, totally unprepared.  Diaboromon glared into Beelzebumon's eyes long and hard as it hissed to itself.

      Beelzebumon felt weak, his eyes were wide and staring.  He couldn't look away, as if paralyzed, and tried to will away the sudden illness that surged through his body.  Diaboromon's scrutiny bothered him, as if the Mega were peering in to his soul through his green eyes.

      "..."  Diaboromon hissed louder as it let Beelzebumon go.

      Beelzebumon yelped as he hit the snow rather painfully, and then stared up at Diaboromon in confusion.

      "..."  Diaboromon looked down at Beelzebumon, its expression unreadable.  "... You really do seem sincere," it hissed quietly.

      Beelzebumon blinked.

      "... But if I found out you lied..."  Diaboromon's eyes narrowed into slits.  "I'll come back and finish the job."

      With that Diaboromon leapt into the air and quickly bounded out of sight.

      Beelzebumon stared as Diaboromon bound off, his expression dumbfounded and shocked.  He continued to stare even as he heard Sera's cries as she ran towards his general area.

      "BEELZEBUMON!" Sera screamed, frantic, as she ran.  She looked around for any sign of Beelzebumon as she prayed that she get to him before Diaboromon killed him.

      "... Sera?" a small voice called, dazed and disoriented.

      Sera immediately whirled towards the voice and bolted towards it.

      As Sera crossed the snowy ground, she came across a bruised, battered, and very confused Impmon.  He turned to stare at her, his eyes wide, as he trembled.

      "Wha' the hell happened?" he asked.

      Sera didn't answer as she ran over to Impmon.  She fell to her knees as she came to a halt next to him, and immediately scooped him up into her arms.  "Impmon...  Oh, Impmon...," she whispered, tears in her eyes as she hugged him tightly.  She didn't know what happened, and she didn't care.  All that mattered was that her partner was still alive.

      Impmon blinked slowly before he slumped against Sera, exhausted.  "He left...," he muttered.

      "Thank God," Sera breathed shakily then laid her cheek atop Impmon's head.  "... Please... please... don't... don't ever do that again...  Please..."

      "..."  Impmon shivered, and then closed his eyes.


	45. Brilliant Ideas

Authors' Notes:  Sorry for the late post... x.x  I guess it's no big surprise, eh?  On a related note, we're having problems finding beta readers.  Anyone interested?

      As always Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters belong to us, so don't steal.  But you already know that by now, right?

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 31: Brilliant Ideas_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Splat.

      "Hehe!"

      "..."

      "Here, throw this! Throw this!"

      "YES!"

      "... ... I'm going to kill you." ChibiBa's eyes glowed violently as he twitched, tied from head to toe in chains while suspended in the middle of a massive iron cage.

      Splat.

      ChibiBa twitched as a rotten watermelon shattered against the ground, inches from him.

      "Darn!"

      "You have piss poor aim," ChibiBa observed, almost casually.  "And when I get free, I'm going to make you squeal."

      Splat.

      ChibiBa's eye twitched a tomato hit him between the eyes, the goo dripping down his snout.

      "BULLSEYE!"

      The air seemed to suddenly grow thick with tension, as ChibiBa said nothing, the twitch growing more drastic.

      The twitch seemed to spread to ChibiBa's entire body as he sat, quietly.

      Far too quietly.

      "... Cantaloupe?"

      The pressure seemed to increase as the bars started to creak in protest; ChibiBa's twitches becoming outright spasms.

      "... RUN!!!"

      However, it was too late.

      With an insane roar, ChibiBa flung himself at the bars.  The chains barely held them, twisting and warping with each enraged movement as the small Mega snarled and snapped like a rabid beast.

      There was a collective squeal as cute digimon dropped their rotten produce and ran from ChibiBa.

      ChibiBa jerked and gnawed at the chains, eyes glowing violently.  Inhuman snarls rippled from his throat, accompanied by a string of curse words so vile it made all nearby plants wilt and die.

      Ruki looked up, slightly, to see the stream of hysterical digimon fleeing from a tent.  She shorted irritably, then leaned against her broom.

      "Looks like they pissed off ChibiBa." she smirked.

      "Indeed," Renamon nodded as she held a similar broom in her hands as well.

      "Maybe he'll eat them!" Terriermon grinned, cheerfully, as he held a dustpan full of dirt.

      "Or at least break free," Jenrya commented as he slowly swept dirt into the dustpan Terriermon was holding.

      "I's huuungryyyy," Guilmon whined as he leaned against his broom.

      "The ground's not getting any cleaner, nyar," Black Tailmon observed as she sat on some crates nearby.

      "No food or rest until you finish," Opossomon sang as he hovered overhead.

      "Baaa," Sheepmon added, sitting next to Black Tailmon.

      The three Champions were very amused as they guarded the Tamers and the three Rookies as they were forced to sweep while wearing leg chains that were actually locked.

      "It's a DIRT FLOOR!" Ruki thundered as she gestured at the ground.  "HOW can you sweep a DIRT FLOOR clean!?"

      "You make it a TIDY dirty floor!" Opossomon chirped.

      "The tidiest dirt floor in the Digital World!" Black Tailmon agreed, purring.

      "You can't be serious," Renamon commented.

      "Can't I?" Black Tailmon quirked a sneer.

      "I don't know about her, but I can't be!" Opossomon cackled as he spun around in the air.

      "Baaaa!" Sheepmon nodded.

      "You can't do this!" Ruki hissed.

      "We already have!" Opossomon cackled.

      "..." Ruki's cheek twitched.

      "I think they're all a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket," Terriermon quipped as he dumped the dirt in his dustpan into a nearby trashcan.

      "Sandwiches?  Where?" Guilmon asked as he sniffed the air for food.

      "Right here," Black Tailmon purred as she held up what could only be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

      "Oh boy!  Yummy!" Guilmon cried as he instantly darted over towards Black Tailmon and the sandwich.

      Black Tailmon cackled and yanked it out of reach.  "Who said it was for YOU?"

      "HEY!" Guilmon cried as he flailed his claws at the sandwich, but unfortunately the chain attached to his ankle kept him from moving any further forward.

      "It's for ME," Black Tailmon purred as she leaned forward.  "Not for YOU."

      "But I's hungry," Guilmon whined as his ear-wings drooped.

      "Hey, that's enough!  Stop torturing him!" Jenrya snapped as he glared at Black Tailmon.

      "Oh?" Black Tailmon glowered.  "Did you ever think of that when you did what you did to our boss?"

      "We didn't even DO anything!" Ruki growled.  "He's a total wuss if he can't handle a little interrogating!"

      That was obviously the wrong thing to say as Black Tailmon, Opossomon, and Sheepmon suddenly fixed them with a hateful glare.

      "Did she just use the word I think she did, nyar?" Black Tailmon's ears flipped back.

      "Baaaa~!" Sheepmon snarled.

      "She called our boss a total wuss...," Opossomon hissed, his balloons glaring along with him.

      "... And INTERROGATION," Black Tailmon's lips quivered to display her fangs.  "YOU know what that is, right!?"

      "BAAAA~!" Sheepmon roared.

      "Chinese water torture!" Black Tailmon flexed her claws, snarling.

      "Baaaaaaaa!" Sheepmon reared up.

      "They mighta even forced the boss to watch BARNEY!" Opossomon snarled.

      "You'll be lucky if we ever let you eat again, you disgusting little monsters!" Black Tailmon shrieked, pointing a claw at the Tamers.

      "Hey!  We didn't do anything to him besides question him!" Jenrya exclaimed.

      "BEASTS!" Opossomon hissed.

      "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!!!" Sheepmon screamed.

      Opossomon and Black Tailmon paused to stare at Sheepmon, shocked.

      "... Can you really use that language around children?" Black Tailmon asked.

      "Where did you learn some of those words anyway?" Opossomon blinked.

      Sheepmon shrugged.

      "... ANYWAY!" Black Tailmon coughed, then glared at the Tamers.  "How DARE you do that to our boss!"

      "We never even touched him!  Sheesh!  Talk about overreacting!" Terriermon exclaimed as he threw up his paws in exasperation.

      "Lies!  ALL LIES!" Opossomon waved his fist at them.

      "Ask Pandamon for yourself," Renamon calmly suggested.

      "We can't," Black Tailmon sniffed.  "He's been through a lot.  He's traumatized."

      "Yeah, that's why we're keeping him locked up in his tent," Opossomon agreed.

      "... Wait."  Ruki suddenly turned to look at the three, her expression bland.  "... You're holding Pandamon prisoner?"

      "... Don't go trying to fool us with your logic!" Opossomon flailed his free hand.

      "It's for his own protection, nyar!" Black Tailmon snapped.

      "BAA!" Sheepmon agreed.

      "But we didn't hurt him, and we're not going to!" Jenrya insisted.

      "Liar," Opossomon stuck out his tongue.

      "You guys are obsessive!" Ruki glared.

      "Protective, nyar," Black Tailmon retorted.

      "If you were any more protective, Pandamon'd be chained up like ChibiBa!" Terriermon retorted.

      "We tried that," Black Tailmon shrugged.  "He whined about it too much."

      Terriermon face-faulted.

      A sudden pair of familiar screams pierced the air from outside the circus tent.

      Guilmon instantly looked towards the sound.  "Takato?!" he gasped, and tried to run out, only to be stopped by the chains.  With a yelp the dinosaur digimon fell over, knocking up dirt and dust around him.

      Black Tailmon leapt to her feet quickly as she watched a pair of humans fall from the sky.

      Tsuyosa and Takato fell downwards, screaming.

      "Opossomon!" Black Tailmon barked.  "Humans!  D-Arc!  NOW!"

      "Right!"  Opossomon nodded as he made a pair of small black orbs appear in his hands.  "Mystery Orb!" he cried as he threw the orbs at the falling humans.  Each orb impacted against the two boys, and disappeared after they hit.

      Opossomon smirked as the orbs reappeared in his paw and popped to reveal a pair of D-Arcs.  "Got 'em!" he practically sang.

      "Yay, good job!" Black Tailmon smirked, then looked upwards as the two boys fell.  "Looks like we have another slave!"

      "Takato!" Guilmon yelled as he struggled to try and get at his Tamer.

      Black Tailmon lunged and jumped on to Guilmon's head, using it as a springboard to surge upwards towards the falling humans.  Guilmon yelped as his face was buried into the dirt, and flailed as he yanked it back out.

      With a fantastic flip, the cat digimon caught the two humans and dove downwards with all the grace of a dancer.  She landed easily on the ground with a grunt, her tail lashing as she paused to eye her new captives.

      "Hello and WELCOME to Pandamonium Circus!" Black Tailmon jeered.

**_*~*_**

      "Choco-choco-CHOCOLATE!"

      "No, no, my pet.  STRAWBERRIES."

      "Yeah!  You can't top a cake without strawberries, silly!"

      The Leomon puppet sulked, crossing its arms as it wore a pretty pink apron.

      Nearby, the mysterious claw mixed a big bowl of dough as it too wore a large apron that dangled off its wrist.

      "Patty cake, patty cake, baker's MON!"

      "Bake me a cake as fast as you can!" Shuichon squealed as she wore an adorable frilly pink apron of her own.  She was covered with splotches of batter, icing, and flour as she carefully measured out a cup of sugar.

      "YUM, YUM RAWR!" the Leomon puppet wiggled about happily.

      Lopmon wore an apron that matched Shuichon's as she shook flour around in a cake pan, her fur covered completely in the white powder.  She sighed and wondered what was taking the others so long to rescue Shuichon and her.  She was just grateful that their 'hosts' seemed too interested in doing 'girly' activities to think about doing horrible things to their captives.

**_*~*_**

      Sera trudged through the snow, which quietly scrunched underfoot with each step she made.  In her arms Impmon was once again wearing his jacket as his Tamer held him in a fiercely protective hug.  She shook slightly, but more from the fact that she almost lost her partner rather than from the cold.

      Impmon said nothing, totally limp in Sera's arms as he stared at the snow.  He was completely healed now as she had used a regeneration card on him to take care of his wounds.  Thankfully there had been no accidents or side effects like last time.

      However, he refused to say anything once he recovered from the shock that he was still alive.

      Despite Sera's best efforts to get him to speak, Impmon would not answer her.  Instead, he chose to be carried without much complaint.  Such a fact, alone, was frightening.

      "... Impmon?" Sera asked gently, deciding to try again.

      Impmon tilted his head slightly but said nothing.

      Sera took that as a positive sign, as it showed that Impmon was at least listening to her.  "... I want you to know that... I still love you...," she whispered into his ear.

      "..."  Impmon twitched, then turned his head.  He didn't want to speak at all.  In fact, he was feeling downright irritated that the subject was still being pressed.  However, he knew he at least owed Sera a little bit of an answer.  "... Why?"

      "..."  Sera smiled at Impmon weakly yet tenderly.  She knew that he was probably feeling horrible right now, but he needed to hear how she felt about what had happened.  "... Because... it doesn't matter to me... what you've done in the past..."

      "... I killed.  I ruined lives," Impmon muttered.

      "... You've changed," Sera pointed out quietly.  "... You regret what you've did... and want to make things right..."

      "... Doesn't change what happened."

      Sera closed her eyes for a few moments as she sorted out her thoughts.  It was true that nothing could change what had happened, no matter how much she wished it, but what she said could at least help Impmon cope with it.  She racked her brain for something, anything that she could say that could miraculously make him feel better so that he could go back to being the same playful imp that she loved.

      Unfortunately healing emotions didn't work that way, which left her at a loss and an ache in her heart.  "... Do you mind telling me why you did it...?" she asked softly once she opened her eyes again, hoping that if he told his side of things, she could think of something to say.

      "..."  Impmon looked back down at the snow, his cheek twitching rather visibly as his temper flared up.  He just wanted to drop the subject.  He didn't want to tell Sera about it, he didn't want to think about it.  He just wanted the subject to die and for them to continue walking.  The fact that the subject was still being shoved in his face made him feel more than a little angry, not to mention frustrated.  However, he knew it was his own fault that he was in the situation at all, not Sera's.

      "... Because I lost control."

      "..."  Sera didn't say anything.  There was nothing she could say.  Instead she waited for Impmon to continue.

      Impmon scowled, wanting the topic to stop there.  He set his jaw, hoping Sera wouldn't press him, but the silence became so thick that he felt like he had to.

      "... I was given a choice... a chance," Impmon muttered, glaring balefully at the snow.  "A chance to become powerful... and I took it."

      "..."  Sera didn't know what to say to that, so she just held Impmon a little closer as she waited for him to continue.

      "... But I couldn't stop," Impmon's expression hardened.  He hated the subject.  He hated talking about what happened so much and he hated himself that it even happened.  He felt rage slowly building up inside of him, directed at himself for allowing himself to ever get close to Sera and expose her to the cold truth that he was a murderer.  He knew the Diaboromon should have killed him.

      "I wanted more power... and more... and more... and I killed digimon to get it... and absorbed their data."

      "... You got too powerful too fast...," Sera guessed quietly, unable to help but notice how horribly upset Impmon was getting.  "... And it corrupted you...  Like what happened with SkullGreymon in the anime..."

      "... Except this was happening to ME," Impmon muttered.  "I... was sent to go face off against the Tamers and I...  ..."

      "... I know...," Sera whispered as she hugged Impmon close, brushing her cheek against his.  "...  ... I'm glad... Juri didn't let you die..."

      "... But why?"  Impmon shook his head, closing his eyes.  He wasn't thrilled about being spared.  He destroyed people's lives, just like he was destroying Sera's.  He had no right getting involved and if he had died during that fateful fight, Sera would never have been put in danger.  "I... KILLED..."

      "... Vengeance doesn't solve anything..."  Sera closed her eyes.  "... All it does is cause an endless cycle of death and misery..."  She then blinked and shook her head at what she had just said.  She spoke the first thing that popped into her head, which she had heard from someplace before that she couldn't remember.  Suddenly she felt a bit foolish for saying something she didn't really know about from first-hand experience.  "... That sounded kinda stupid didn't it?"

      "Not really," Impmon replied, solemnly.  He knew vengeance felt good sometimes, but it was still unhealthily.  "Sounded pretty right to me..."

      "Well... if you think so," Sera smiled slightly.

      Impmon cracked a small smile, then sighed and returned to staring at the snow.  His anger was slowly draining away from his body, leaving him numb and tired.  It took a lot of effort staying angry, especially with himself.  In the end, there was simply no point.  He deserved everything he got, anyway.

      Sera sighed as well, the smile disappearing.  "... You shouldn't hate yourself for what happened...," she said gently.  "... It's not your fault.  It could've happened to anyone..."  She then paused and made a face.  "... I know that probably sounded like a bunch of cliché crap, but it's true."

      "..."  Impmon looked up at Sera, eyes narrowing slightly.  He didn't believe her; he couldn't believe her.  She wasn't there and she didn't see him.  Besides, she was his Tamer.  She was supposed to be a little biased.  Still, it was obvious that arguing with her wasn't going to help.  She'd keep repeating herself and the subject would keep going.  Sighing, Impmon decided to just let her comments slide and put on a happy face.  Just like his stomach, eh? Pandamon was right, he had to admit.  It's much easier just to smile instead of frown.  People won't bother you or be bothered by you.

      Impmon tilted his head and grinned slyly.  "... You're right, it DOES sound like a bunch of cliché crap."

      Sera blinked as she noticed Impmon's drastic change in demeanor.  It happened far too quickly for that smile to be genuine.  She looked at him for a moment, fighting back the urge to sigh, as she felt utterly helpless to help her partner feel better.  "... Like you could do any better," Sera smiled crookedly, at a loss for anything else to say.

      "I could if I tried!  I just don't wanna!" Impmon grinned.

      "Yeah, right," Sera smirked.  "I bet you're just saying that because you can't."

      "Nyah!" Impmon smirked back.

      "Nice comeback."

      "Works for all occasions!" Impmon beamed.

      "So I see..."  Suddenly something came to mind that Sera had an idea as to what to say now, but was hesitant to say it as changing the topic back to what it was before might be the worst mistake she could make.  With a sigh she decided to say it quickly and as gently as possible.  She leaned forward and kissed Impmon's forehead softly, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake.  "... I know nothing I can say will make you change your mind... and I know that I wasn't there... so I can only speak how I feel about it... but I want you to know... nothing will make me stop loving you...   You're the most wonderful person in the world to me... regardless of what happened..."

      Impmon tilted his head.  He expected Sera to say something like that; it's not that he didn't believe her.  She honestly believed what she was saying.  He wanted to believe her, but he honestly couldn't trust himself.  Sera couldn't know the dark feelings he had.  She didn't know how much he actually enjoyed the killing at the time; he would never let her know.  He knew that he had enjoyed fighting everyone and that it wasn't until after the fight with Leomon that he finally realized how sick he was.

      Impmon couldn't tell her about his feelings.  He knew he was still being selfish, but he couldn't help it.  However, he wasn't going to talk about the subject anymore.  Even if it meant acting like Pandamon and smiling about it.

      "Thanks," he said, smiling falsely.  He was thankful that she was supporting him, but he knew he didn't deserve it.  He wasn't going to say so, though.

      Sera smiled back, however forced, and hugged Impmon as closely as possible.  There was nothing else she could do.  Continuing on the subject wouldn't help anything, as it was apparent to her that no matter what she said, she couldn't fix things.

      Suddenly Sera realized that Impmon was doing what she did when faced with something that upset her greatly and nothing helped; trying not to think about it as much as possible and think or do things that were more pleasant instead.  She paused for a moment then sighed, mentally berating herself for forcing her partner into doing something she herself wouldn't do.

      "I'm sorry I keep mentioning it.  I don't know when to quit sometimes.  I'll shut up now," she said as she gave a more genuine smile to Impmon.

      Impmon paused, then looked at Sera and smiled back.  He didn't like her talking like that, but she seemed to be joking so he supposed it was all right.  "Eh, it's okay, toots... it's over with now, anyway."

      "Yeah," Sera nodded.  She paused as fatigue caught up with her, her legs aching and slightly numb from the cold as well.  She had been tromping through the snow and slush while carrying Impmon for quite a while, and the exertion plus the cold was finally catching up with her, especially now that she was no longer focused on trying to make her partner talk to her.  Finally she stopped walking altogether as she just couldn't take another step.

      "... This is taking forever...," she muttered to herself.  She sighed and spoke louder as she looked back down at Impmon.   "I'm tired...  Mind if we sit here for a few minutes?"

      "Um, sure," Impmon blinked, then furrowed his brow.  "We're not getting very far, are we?"

      Sera sat down with a soft grunt as her rear hit the snow-covered ground.  "Nope...," she shook her head as she adjusted her position so that she was sitting on her legs instead.

      "... And no data stream in sight," Impmon observed.  "Those things are good for getting places, fast.  Even if you don't wanna be there."

      "But what're the chances of it taking us where we want to go?" Sera asked before pausing for a moment.  "... Why does the Digital World have them anyway?  They seem like they're more trouble than they're worth."

      "So am I, but I'm still here," Impmon smirked.

      Sera blinked then giggled.  "I beg to differ," she smirked back at Impmon.  "You're more than worth it."  She then cuddled him close.

      "Bah, mushy crap," Impmon snorted, though he obviously didn't mean it.  Instead, he settled back and looked at the landscape with a thoughtful expression.  "... So now what?"

      Sera sighed and leaned back slightly as she looked around.  "... I guess we just keep walking," she sighed.  "We should find the others eventually..."

      "..." Impmon tapped his chin.

      "Too bad we can't hitch a ride with someone or something," Sera smirked as she tilted her head slightly.

      "... Say... would you say something that's born from lava could, um, be destroyed easily?" Impmon asked, suddenly.

      Sera blinked at Impmon.  "Huh?"  She then tilted her head slightly.  "Well... I guess not...  I mean... lava can melt just about anything.  Why do you ask?"

      "... Well, 'cuz... Behemoth... it came from lava and I sorta lost track of it when I was fightin' the Tamers.  Dukemon blasted it, yasee.  And I didn't see parts or bits, so I was just wonderin' if somethin' like Behemoth could survive it!" Impmon explained.

      Sera blinked slowly as she absorbed the information then tapped her chin.  "Well...  I'm not sure how strong a Dukemon is... but if Behemoth was made from lava, I'd say it'd be pretty hard to destroy," she commented thoughtfully.  "It could've just been knocked away out of sight."

      "... Like maybe in to those big cracks Dukemon made?" Impmon asked, hopefully.

      "I guess so," Sera tilted her head the other way.  "If they were big and deep enough, and close enough to where Behemoth got hit, I'd think that'd be most likely what happened to it."

      "So maybe I could call it!" Impmon jumped up out of Sera's arms, and then yelped when he hit the snow.  "COLD!"

      Sera blinked again, then quirked a smile.  "Told you it was too cold to walk around without boots."

      "Bah!" Impmon snorted, then shivered as another gust of wind blasted the two of them with a massive amount of snow.  Suddenly, Impmon's jacket fluttered through the wind and hit Sera in the face.  As the snow cleared, Beelzebumon shivered uncontrollably and hopped about in the snow.  "I've got boots now and I'm STILL damn cold!"

      Sera yelped as the gust of wind hit and shivered.  She flinched as the jacket hit her in the face, and then pulled it down before blinking at Beelzebumon.  "..."  She couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the large Mega hopping around in the snow.

      "Cold, cold, cold, DAMN IT'S COLD!" Beelzebumon yowled, then stood shivering.  "RIGHT!  If yer out there, Behemoth... GET YER PIPED ASS HERE 'CAUSE I'M COLD!"

      Silence greeted Beelzebumon's vulgar demand.

      Beelzebumon blinked, then scowled.

      "Aw damn," he sighed.

      Suddenly, a low rumbling echoed through the distance.

      "Eh?" Beelzebumon looked up.  Sera blinked and looked up as well.

      The rumbling grew louder, like thunder.  Suddenly, a black and red bike lunged off of a glacier and landed with a metallic skid right in front of the two, completely swamping them with snow.

      "..." Beelzebumon twitched, then flailed his fists and kicked the motorcycle in the side.  "YA PIECE OF JUNK!  WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

      The motorcycle revved its engine in response.

      "YAH!" Sera yowled then shivered as she was completely covered in snow.  "C-C-COLD!"  She quickly stood up and started wiping off the snow as fast as possible.

      "I'm even COLDER than I was before!" Beelzebumon thundered as he kicked the motorcycle again.  "YOU GOT SNOW DOWN MY BODYSUIT!"

      The motorcycle tilted over, whacking Beelzebumon's foot with its kickstand.  Beelzebumon squealed and hopped about, clutching his foot.

      "THAT HURT!" Beelzebumon shrieked.

      Sera blinked repeatedly as she stared at her partner and the motorcycle.  "..."  After a little bit she finally was able to snap out of being stunned.  "... I take it that's Behemoth?" she asked, blinking at Beelzebumon as she pointed at the motorcycle.

      "No, that's a piece of crap," Beelzebumon glowered, then yelped as the motorcycle revved its engine.  "... Yeah, that's Behemoth."

      "..."  Sera cautiously walked over towards Behemoth as she stared at it curiously.  "... Is it... alive?" she blinked.

      "... Yeah," Beelzebumon glowered.  "It's got a mind of its own, at least... sort of like Dukemon's giant bird... thing."

      "Bird thing?" Sera repeated as she blinked at Beelzebumon.

      "Yeah, bird thing!" Beelzebumon shrugged as he walked over to the motorcycle and sat down on it, testing.  "It's a... bird... thing!"

      "I... see...," Sera said slowly, although it was apparent she didn't.  She then smiled.  "Well at least now you know Behemoth's not destroyed, and it can take us to the others."

      "Yeah," Beelzebumon grunted as he gripped the handlebars.  The motorcycle revved its engine again as Beelzebumon glanced back.  "So... ya getting on or not?"

      "Oh, right!"  Sera quickly shoved Impmon's jacket into her backpack before she walked over to the motorcycle and climbed on behind Beelzebumon.

      Suddenly Behemoth reared back and spun its front tire.  Sera let out a yelp as she lunged forward to grab on to Beelzebumon as the motorcycle took off across the landscape.

      "BEEELZEEEBUUUMOOOON!" Sera screamed.  "AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL I SIT DOWN FIIIIRST!"

      "SORRY!" Beelzebumon laughed above the roar of the motorcycle.

      "NO YOU'RE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!"

**_*~*_**

      "Oh, you have such LOVELY hair, Tsu-chan!"

      "... Um... thank you?"

      Pandamon purred happily as he brushed Tsuyosa's hair, sitting calmly on his big pink sleeping mattress.  Tsuyosa stared blankly at the tent walls around him, unsure of what to do as the digimon brushed his hair tenderly.  The room looked surprisingly cheerful, with circus posters and costumes.

      However, there was the matter of the front flap, which was chained, steel bolted, and covered with barbed wire.

      "Do they... lock you in here much?" Tsuyosa asked, slowly.

      "Only when they feel insecure," Pandamon replied as he brushed.  "They're making sure I don't disappear again.  They'll let me out in a week or so."

      "... That doesn't bother you?" Tsuyosa asked.  "That you're a prisoner in your own circus?"

      "If it makes them feel safe and happy, I don't mind," Pandamon shrugged.  "They let me out for potty breaks and bring me food, so it works out."

      "..."  Tsuyosa blinked slowly, then turned to look at Pandamon.  "But-"

      "Don't do that!  I'm brushing your hair!" Pandamon grabbed Tsuyosa's head and turned it back around.

      "..."  Tsuyosa blinked, then face-faulted at the sudden sense of deja vu.

      "Now I have to start all over!" Pandamon scolded, though he didn't sound too unhappy.

      "... Pandamon?" Tsuyosa began.

      "Yeees, Tsu-chan?" Pandamon crooned.

      "... This IS a tent, right?" Tsuyosa asked.

      "Yep," Pandamon smiled.

      "... Why don't you just lift up one of the walls and crawl under it?"

      "..."

      "... You didn't think of that, did you?"

      "... ..."


	46. Unexpected Twists

Authors' Notes:  Whee!  Sorry, we're late again, but this time with good reason!  It's Neon's birthday and Yuki's been spending all her time secretly plotting and making a birthday webpage for her as a present.  The webpage can be found here:

http://yukiryu0.tripod.com/NeonBirthday.html

      Everyone wish her a happy birthday!

      Also we're still looking for beta readers if anyone's interested.

      Now onto the more boring notes everyone's heard before.  Sera, Tsuyosa, and any and all new characters, as well as this story, belong to us so don't steal.

      I'm sure you're all sick of the lengthy notes by now, so on with the story!

**_Dreaming to Reality_**

**_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_**

**_Chapter 32: Unexpected Twists_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      Dust flew up everywhere as Behemoth tore through the bare desert of the Digital World.  Beelzebumon grinned as he revved the engines, thoroughly enjoying the ride.  He sorely missed riding Behemoth, where he could feel the wind against his body and the world rushing by.

      Sera wasn't enjoying the ride nearly as much as Beelzebumon, however.

      Sera clung tightly to Beelzebumon's back, her entire body pressed up against him as much as she possibly could, as Behemoth wasn't made to support two passengers, thus the Tamer had little room to sit on.  Her eyes were closed to keep dust from getting in them, and her expression tense, as she kept one ear pressed against her partner's back to at least save her hearing in one of her ears as Behemoth roared deafeningly.

      Beelzebumon didn't notice Sera's discomfort as his tail wrapped around her waist to steady her.  He cackled as the motorcycle zipped along easily, making him feel free and incredibly cool.  The Mega proved himself to be as much a speed demon as Sera was, unthinkingly driving over gorges and over dangerous terrain as he passed between the worlds.  They had long since left the ice world in favor of the rolling plains they currently tore through, covered with jagged rocks and mountains.

      Sera flinched at every bump and jump Beelzebumon made Behemoth do, which jarred the two of them atop the motorcycle.  Normally she'd sit back and enjoy the ride, but she was just too uncomfortable to do so.  The only things keeping her on the motorcycle were her own arms and her partner's tail.  She couldn't hold on very well with her legs either, as the exhaust pipes were directly beneath where she was sitting, and she had to concentrate on keeping her legs away from them or get burnt.

      "WHOO!" Beelzebumon cackled, revving the engine once more.  "I missed THIS!"

      "WHAT?" Sera asked loudly, trying to be heard over the deafening roar the engine made.

      "I SAID-," Beelzebumon stopped, then stared.  "HEY!  IT'S THAT CIRCUS!"

      "I THINK I'M DEAF!" was the only thing Sera could think to respond as she didn't really understand what Beelzebumon had said.  She opened her eyes slowly, squinting because of the dust and speed then blinked.  "HEY LOOK!  IT'S THE CIRCUS!"  She would have pointed if she hadn't been concentrating on keeping a death-grip on her partner.

      "WHAAAAAT?" Beelzebumon blinked.

      "..." Sera sighed as she realized that their yelling while riding wasn't going to work.

      Beelzebumon glanced back at Sera, then shrugged and quickly pulled in to a stop in front of the Pandamonium Circus.  Behemoth spun about completely, spitting up dirt, before coming to a complete stop.

      "Heh, heh!" Beelzebumon chuckled, having obviously enjoyed the spin out.

      Sera remained pressed against Beelzebumon even after they stopped as she clung to him tightly, her eyes having closed again once they started spinning and kicking up dirt.  "..."  Carefully she opened one eye after she was convinced that they weren't going to move anymore.

      "Never thought I'd be happy to see this place," Beelzebumon snorted as he revved Behemoth's engine just for kicks.  "First sign of life since that Diaboromon."

      Sera flinched as the engine revved up, causing a loud spike of sound.  "..."  She looked up at Beelzebumon flatly.  "You enjoyed that waaaaay too much."

      "Hmm?" Beelzebumon blinked as he revved the engine again.

      Sera flinched again and gave a pouting glare.  "... I'm already deaf enough, thank you."  Carefully she loosened her grip on Beelzebumon and started to slip off Behemoth.

      "Aw, you're no fun!" Beelzebumon sulked as he shut down his motorcycle and slid off of Behemoth as well.  "I mean, it's the same as yer racin'!"

      "... No offense to either you or Behemoth...," Sera muttered as she gave Beelzebumon a sideways glance while she readjusted her pant clothing, which had shifted quite uncomfortably during the ride.  "But I'm not taking a second ride."

      "... Yer still no fun," Beelzebumon muttered, then blinked when he noticed what Sera was doing.  "..."

      "Sure, I guess it's like my racing, but I'm not all scrunched up uncomfortably and trying to keep my legs up all the time while racing.  My skates are strapped onto my feet, and I've got padding on," Sera continued once she finished what she was doing.  "... Oh great, my butt's asleep," she muttered to herself and started stomping her feet to get the circulation back in her rear and legs.  "... It's not like I mean to complain.  I like the idea of riding with you, but I was just very uncomfortable.  I didn't have anything on me to protect me this time either, and all I could do was hold on," she continued louder as she glanced at Beelzebumon.  "Not to mention the dust blinding me, the engine deafening me, and the hot exhaust pipes."

      Beelzebumon's cheek twitched slightly as a light blush appeared.  He idly wondered if Sera was doing that on purpose.

      However, it didn't last long.

      "NYAR!"

      Sera gasped and looked up, then cried out as a black blur suddenly shot from the tent and lunged at her.

      "HEY-!" Beelzebumon began, then yelped as Black Tailmon grabbed Sera and bound out of the way with a lash of her tail.

      "IDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!/I"

      Beelzebumon blinked, then looked upwards.

      There was the sound of rapid popping from above before countless numbers of large blunt objects came falling from the sky above Beelzebumon.  The items ranged from anvils to crates to toilets.

      Beelzebumon's eyes widened in horror.  Behemoth, sensing much smashing, immediately took off for safety.  Beelzebumon was not so lucky, however, as the objects suddenly impacted with great force.

      "BEELZEBUMON!" Sera screamed as she struggled in Black Tailmon's grasp.

      Black Tailmon grunted.  "Hold still and I won't drop yer butt," she growled as she grabbed Sera's D-Arc and yanked it away.

      "WHA-?!  NO!" Sera cried and struggled as best she could.  Her struggles were to no avail, however, as she couldn't match the Champion's strength.

      "Didn't I say hold still?" Black Tailmon smirked.

      "BEELZEBUMON!" Sera screamed again as she turned her gaze towards the pile of junk that was covering where her partner had been standing moments before.

      Opossomon floated down from the sky, hanging from black, evil looking balloons, with a demented look on his face.  "Is he dead, is he dead, is he dead?" he hissed, his voice filled a hatred so strong it was practically insane.

      "... Nope, the D-Arc's not all static," Black Tailmon eyed Opossomon.  "You just knocked him out."

      "..."  Opossomon shook violently as his eyes glowed brightly.  "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?!?!" he roared at the pile of junk before he made more balloons appear.

      "STOP IT!  DON'T KILL HIM!" Sera screamed as she continued to struggle.

      "Opossomon," Black Tailmon looked at Opossomon, squarely.  "Did you know... that you look very uncute when you're vengeful?"

       Opossomon turned at Black Tailmon, his expression horrified.  He squeaked and instantly his black balloons popped, sending him dropping down atop the pile and bouncing a bit after impacting.  "I'm not uncute!" he whined in an adorable manner, sniffling as tears came to his eyes.  "Am I?"  He hiccupped then started crying fountains of tears.

      Sera stared at Opossomon before she slumped and let out a sigh of relief.  "..."  She looked at Black Tailmon.  "... Thank you," she said quietly.

      Black Tailmon blinked slowly, then smiled.  She didn't have the heart to tease him then.  "Of course!  When you're not looking so EVIL!  Evil is SOOO uncute... it can make even the CUTEST look so UNCUTE.  That's why it's EVIL."

      "Really?" Opossomon sniffled cutely as he looked at Black Tailmon with wide, hopeful eyes.

      "Definitely!" Black Tailmon beamed.  "But you should be careful!  If you're evil too much... it might stick that way!"

      "YAY!" Opossomon cheered as he hopped up and down, then gasped, horrified.  "Stay uncute!?" he gasped.  "NOO!"  He flailed and bounced in place.  "I can't get uncute!  No, no, no, no, no!"

      "That's why you have to be CAREFUL," Black Tailmon continued, casually.  "You looked so SCARY just then... it frightened me!"

      "EEEE!" Opossomon squealed as he ran around in place, flailing his arms.  "NONONONONONO!"

      "Didn't he look SCARY?" Black Tailmon looked at Sera.  "So VERY scary!  You'd never have realized he was so cute!"

      Sera nodded vigorously, deciding that she owed Black Tailmon for stopping Opossomon from killing Beelzebumon.  "Y-yeah!  He scared me!" Sera agreed.  "He didn't look cute AT ALL!"

      Opossomon blinked cutely and tilted his head.  "Okay, no more being evil!"  With a squeal he hopped off the junk pile and made a new batch of his normal balloons appear in his hands so that he'd float before touching down onto the ground.

      "Good," Black Tailmon nodded, 'sagely'.

      Sera looked at the two Champions before she turned her gaze back to the pile.  "Beelzebumon...," she whispered, hoping her partner wasn't too badly injured.

      The pile of junk twitched slightly.

      Sera blinked as she noticed it.  "Beelzebumon?" she repeated quietly.

      Opossomon tilted his head as he looked at Sera, then glanced at Black Tailmon.  "Toilet duty?" he suggested.

      "Definitely," Black Tailmon grinned, then made a mental note to drag the Mega out of the mess and hide him from Opossomon.

**_*~*_**

      "Why don't you just pour concrete down everywhere and be done with it!?"

      "Concrete's hard on the feet, nyar."

      "Then put a CARPET over it!"

      "Carpets get dusty and need vacuuming."

      "It's better than dirt!"

      "Dirt has a nice, groundy feel to it."

      "Baaaa."

      Ruki's cheek twitched as she glared at the three Champions.

      Black Tailmon glanced back calmly, as she crossed her arms.  "It gives the place a nice, earthy feel.  Nyar."

      "Just ignore them, Ruki," Jenrya shook his head.  "They're just trying to antagonize us."

      "Seems to be working," Terriermon observed, quietly.

      "Can't we take a lunch break yet?" Guilmon whined as he slumped against his broom.

      "But I'm not hungry!" Black Tailmon blinked, then smiled at the other Champions.  "Either of you hungry?"

      "Baaaaa," Sheepmon smirked.

      "Nope!  I had a biiiig meal!" Opossomon cackled as he rubbed his stomach.

      "Well then!  No need for a break!" Black Tailmon purred.

      "But I hungry!" Guilmon whimpered.

      "Stop picking on Guilmon!" Takato glared at the three circus digimon as he clenched the handle of his broom tightly.  "What did we ever do to you anyway!?"

      "It's what you did to PANDAMON," Black Tailmon snapped.

      "We never made him into a slave or starved him!" Takato snapped back at Black Tailmon.

      "No, you just violated him," Black Tailmon smirked.

      "I NEVER VIOLATED HIM!" Takato yelled heatedly.  "I'M NOT A PERVERT!"

      "Hah!  That's why we have him out of YOUR reach!" Black Tailmon spat.  "You can't hurt him if he's-"

      "Baa?"

      Black Tailmon blinked, then scowled at Sheepmon.  "What do yo mean, he's right-"

      "Whew!  Finally!" Pandamon sighed as he dusted himself off, having climbed under the tent wall with Tsuyosa.

      "Huh?" Black Tailmon blinked slowly.

      "Eeep?" Pandamon turned and stared at the Champions, previously unaware that they were there.

      "Tsu!" Takato cried as he spotted Tsuyosa.

      Tsuyosa blinked, then stared.  "Takato!"

      "How'd you get out!?" Opossomon blinked, stunned.

      "Yeah!  We locked the door!" Black Tailmon hissed.

      Pandamon blinked, then turned to the tent and grabbed the bottom of the wall.  He lifted it up slowly, then turned to look at the champions.

      "..." Black Tailmon blinked slowly.

      "..." Sheepmon stared, dumbfounded.

      "..."  Opossomon's jaw dropped.  "The boss can make the walls move!"

      "..." Pandamon shrugged, grinning nervously.  "Actually, it's just fabric.  I could've lifted it at any time."

      "... Why didn't you do it before?" Black Tailmon face-faulted.

      "...  ...  ..." Pandamon's cheek twitched.

      "He probably didn't think of it until Tsuyosa mentioned it, I bet," Terriermon quipped.

      "..." Black Tailmon looked at Opossomon.

      "..." Opossomon looked at Black Tailmon, then at Sheepmon.

      "..." Sheepmon looked back at Opossomon, then at Black Tailmon.

      "... GET HIM!" Black Tailmon snarled.

      "EEEP!" Pandamon paled.

      With a cry, the three Champions charged at Pandamon.

      "What the?!" Jenrya blinked, startled.

      "Why're they attacking their leader?" Sera blinked.

      "HEY!" Pandamon whirled and darted off.  "I DON'T WANNA GO BACK IN THERE!  IT'S LONELY!"

      "YOU HAVE TSU-CHAN TO KEEP YOU COMPANY!" Opossomon yelled.

      "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" Black Tailmon growled.

      "BAAAAAAAAAA~!" Sheepmon agreed, vigorously.

      Tsuyosa blinked as Pandamon darted past him and ran around the back of the tent, followed closely by the three Champions.  Tsuyosa continued to watch as Pandamon appeared around the other end and plowed through the chained Tamers as he tried to ditch the Champions.  The Tamers and their digimon cried out in surprise as they tried to dodge Pandamon and the Champions, but the chains kept them from getting out of the way in time.

      "I'M FINE!  I'M FINE!" Pandamon flailed.

      "AND YOU'RE FINE BECAUSE WE LOCK YOU UP!" Black Tailmon growled.  "Stop running!  We have your best interests at heart!"

      "GET BACK HERE BEFORE YOU TRIP AND FALL AND BREAK YOUR NOSE OR SOMETHING!" Opossomon cried.

      "BAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" Sheepmon yowled.

      "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Pandamon squealed as he ran around the back of the tent once more.  Tsuyosa blinked, then turned to stare at Takato.

      "... Is ChibiBa like that with me and I just never noticed?" he asked.

      "... Uh... kinda," Takato muttered as he pulled himself to his feet.

      "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Pandamon zipped about and plowed through the Tamers a second time before he paused and stared.

      "HEY GET BACK, eh?" Black Tailmon skidded to a stop.  "... Boss?"

      "STOP OR WE-...  Narf?" Opossomon blinked as he came to a halt.  "Why aren't you runnin', boss?"

      "Baaaaaa~?" Sheepmon blinked as he ceased his charge.

      "... Visitors!" Pandamon barked, his voice suddenly very tense.

      Black Tailmon paled, then whirled and grabbed the chains that bound the Tamers together. With a mighty 'nyar', she yanked the Tamers, Digimon, and Tsuyosa in to a nearby tent.  The Tamers and their digimon cried out in protest at the rough treatment, but were quickly silenced after they disappeared into the tent.

      "Baaaaaaa~?" Sheepmon bleated.

      Black Tailmon threw Tsuyosa at the others, then whirled and yanked the tent flaps shut just enough that she could peek out inconspicuously.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he bumped in to Takato and tripped, slipping so that he fell on top of Guilmon.

      "... Yes," Pandamon glanced at Sheepmon.  "Go tell the others.  QUICKLY."

      "Owie!" Guilmon yelped and blinked up at Tsuyosa.

      "Ow... sorry...," Tsuyosa muttered, dazed.

      Takato rubbed his backside, which he had landed on after being yanked into that tent.  He blinked at Tsuyosa and Guilmon.  "Are you two okay?" he asked.

      "SHHHH!" Black Tailmon hissed, her entire body bristling.

      Sheepmon bleated and quickly darted off deeper into the tent.

      "..." Opossomon tilted his head at Pandamon.  "What do you think they want, boss?  We paid the toll in full."

      "Looks like trouble," Pandamon muttered.

      "Grr...  If they toss me around anymore, I'm going to hurt someone...," Ruki snarled quietly as she pulled herself to her feet.

      "What's going on?" Jenrya asked quietly as he got up into a sitting position.

      "Just be quiet!" Black Tailmon whispered.  "If you value your lives, that is!"

      "Greetings, Pandamon."

      "Hello, My Lady Devimon," Pandamon smiled, wiggling his ears.  "What brings you to the Pandamonium Circus?"

      Lady Devimon sauntered slowly inside of the circus, walking towards Pandamon with her clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.  Following closely behind her was her horde of cross-dressing digimon.

      "We're here looking for humans," she said as she glanced around.  "My Lady Reapermon heard rumors that the Tamers are in the Digital World.  So we are scouring the entire Digital World to find them."

       Black Tailmon's ears flipped back, as she seemed to crouch, her tail lashing in agitation.

      Opossomon calmly pulled three colorful balls out of one of his gloves and juggled them.  "Nobody here but us cuties!" he chirped.

      "I see... are they dangerous?" Pandamon tilted his head.  "Should I be worried?"

      Lady Devimon eyed Opossomon with a cold gaze before she looked at Pandamon levelly.  "You should be.  There are apparently five children, and all of their digimon are Mega level or have the potential to be," she explained.

      "... Oh lovely," Pandamon wrinkled his snout.  "A bunch of Megas wandering about... JUST what we need."

      Lady Devimon snapped her claws and an Ogremon waddled over with a large stack of papers in his arms.  "These are the wanted posters," she said as the Ogremon shoved the papers into Opossomon's arms.  Opossomon fell over with a squeak as the pile of papers overwhelmed him.  "Do you recognize any of the children or digimon in them?"

      Pandamon blinked, then walked over to the papers and looked at them.

      Opossomon sputtered cutely as he was all but buried in paper.

      "... I bet I know who's on those papers," Black Tailmon whispered, quietly.

      The Tamers and their digimon didn't respond as they already figured it out.

      "I expect you to plaster these wanted posters all over your circus, and to ask all your members if they have seen or heard of where these children and their digimon might be," Lady Devimon said with a wave of her claw.

      Pandamon picked up some of the papers and examined them, slowly.

      "I see," Pandamon tilted his head.  "... I wonder why they're here..."  Pandamon paused, then glanced at Lady Devimon.  "Is it true that My Lady Reapermon kidnapped a little girl?"

      Lady Devimon's red eyes flashed.  "That is none of your concern," she hissed.  "Have you seen those digimon and their human pets or not?"

      "So it's true?" Pandamon tilted his head, smiling rather coldly.  "He really did kidnap a little girl?"

      "... I'd watch what I'd say about My Lady Reapermon," Lady Devimon warned, her eyes glowing slightly.

      "Why are you getting so defensive?" Pandamon tilted his head in the opposite direction.

      Black Tailmon seemed to puff up like a cotton ball, looking highly irritated.

      Opossomon blinked, as he looked up at Pandamon, confused.

      "... Asking too many questions is liable to be bad for business, bear," Lady Devimon hissed dangerously as she crossed her arms.

      "What's he doing?" Takato whispered quietly.

      "He's acting like he's trying to pick a fight with her," Jenrya muttered.

      "I... I think he's trying to hide us!" Tsuyosa stared.

      "Why would he want to do that?  I thought he loved 'His Lady'," Ruki snorted quietly.

      "... Maybe they're not all bad after all," Sera mumbled softly.

      "..." Renamon scowled.  "... If she finds us, we'll die."

      "Let's hope she doesn't find us then," Terriermon commented quietly.

      Guilmon tensed as he crouched slightly, eyes and expression normal, but still he was ready to fight at any given moment should they be discovered.

      "Rrrrr," Black Tailmon's eyes narrowed.

      Opossomon blinked and tilted his head cutely.  "Boss?" he asked, his voice a quiet whisper.

      "Hm, I suppose so... questions are rather bad for business," Pandamon tilted his head back and forth, then opened his eyes and quirked a grin.  "But kidnapping, tyrannical transvestites are even worse."

      "..."  With a snarl, Lady Devimon suddenly lashed out and snatched Pandamon's neck in one of her large claws, forcing him to dangle helplessly above the ground.  "You'll pay for your impertinence!" she snarled.

      Pandamon yelped, then grabbed her claw as he squirmed to get free.  "Grk!"

      "BOSS!" Opossomon squeaked as he bounced out of the pile of papers.

      "NYAR!" Black Tailmon crouched, her entire body rigid, as she seemed to struggle between keeping the humans hidden or jumping to help Pandamon.

      Lady Devimon glanced back at the cross-dressing digimon.  "Destroy the circus!  Kill everyone inside!" she snarled before she glared at Pandamon.  "You just made a big mistake you flea-infested fur-ball."  With that Lady Devimon started to choke Pandamon.

      "Don't you dare!" Pandamon writhed and kicked at Lady Devimon, despite the sudden constriction around his throat.

      Lady Devimon merely smirked wickedly, displaying her fangs as she squeezed Pandamon's throat.

      Pandamon let out a choked gag as he squirmed, starting to look a little pale around the ears and eyes.

      "BOSS!" Opossomon squealed.  He snarled and instantly lunged at Lady Devimon, only to be smacked back by a slap from the Ogremon.

      "EEEE!" Ogremon squealed as he looked at his hand.  "I broke a nail!"

      "G-GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!" Pandamon screamed as he squirmed, trying to get free though his struggles grew weaker.

      "Stop bitching and kill him and everyone else!" Lady Devimon snarled at the Ogremon and the other cross-dressers.

      The cross-dressing digimon squealed and quickly spread out with intent to kill and destroy.

      "Heh," Lady Devimon snarled.  "You're always protecting everyone... looking out for everyone else instead of yourself... but you picked the wrong fight this time...  You shouldn't have bothered!"

      Opossomon squealed as he bounced off the ground a few meters away.  "BOSS!" he cried once he recovered his bearings.

      "We have to help him!" Takato cried as he stood up.

      "Hssch...," Pandamon grit his teeth as his vision grew blurry.

      "BOSS!" Black Tailmon hissed, then darted out of the tent and straight for Lady Devimon. "YOU BITCH!"

      "How?" Ruki asked.  "We don't even have our D-Arcs!"

      "He's going to die if we don't try!" Tsuyosa yelped as he quickly darted out of the tent after Black Tailmon.

      Lady Devimon calmly glanced at Black Tailmon before batting her away with her free claw.  "Go away, alley cat," she snorted.

      "Let's go kick some butt!" Terriermon exclaimed as he darted out after Tsuyosa.

      "Right," Jenrya nodded as he ran out with his partner.

      "Come on!" Takato yelled as he ran out with Guilmon.

      "But the chains!" Sera quickly tried to remind the boys, but it was too late as they all ended up falling over as the chains went taut.

      Black Tailmon yowled, then whirled and slashed at Lady Devimon.  "DROP HIM NOW!"

      "MAD BALLOON-WAK!" Opossomon squealed as the Ogremon kicked him across the tent with one of his high heels.

      "No," Lady Devimon said simply before she slapped Black Tailmon aside.

      "NYAR!"

      "YOU HEARD HER, YOU HIGH HEELED HUSSY!" Tsuyosa hissed as he darted over and kicked Lady Devimon hard in the shins, having never been chained to begin with.

      "T-Tsu-chan!  No!" Pandamon wheezed.

      Lady Devimon snarled at Tsuyosa.  "A TAMER!" she hissed.  Immediately she reached out with her free hand to grab Tsuyosa's own neck.  "My master will be pleased if I bring him your corpse!"

      "ACK!" Tsuyosa paled as he squirmed.  "CHIBIBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

      His voice seemed to echo through the circus, which suddenly grew very quiet.

      All at once, the ground started to quiver.

      The cross-dressing digimon all squealed as they fell over, the high heels they were wearing giving them no sizeable traction to stay upright.

      "Wh-wha?" Black Tailmon blinked and glanced about, uncertain.

      "Wha-what's going on?!" Opossomon squeaked.

      Suddenly, one of the tents exploded violently as a huge Black WarGreymon lunged upwards in to the sky with a massive, deafening roar of ultimate rage.

      Chains and bits of metal flew about, twisted and torn asunder as the massive Mega twirled about and turned to leer down at the circus.

      "C-C-ChibiBa!" Tsuyosa gasped, eyes widening.

      ChibiBa's head snapped about, then focused in on Tsuyosa.  He quickly glanced at Lady Devimon, then Tsuyosa, then slowly returned his gaze to the viral digimon.  "...  ..."

      Lady Devimon stared at ChibiBa, her expression blank.

      "...  ... Shit."

      Within a blink of an eye, the extremely angry Mega swooped in to a dive right for Lady Devimon and rammed his claws through her body.

      Lady Devimon barely had a chance to gurgle before she exploded violently into data.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he fell on his back, smashing his head rather hard against the ground as Pandamon collapsed beside him.  Pandamon stared up as ChibiBa towered over them, Tsuyosa unconscious due to the blow.  The massive Mega slowly shifted in to a crouch and glanced about, his eyes focusing on the transvestite digimon.

      The cross-dressing digimon stared at ChibiBa before they all squealed and fled.

      ChibiBa's lips curled up in a snarl before he darted forward with the reflexes of a panther, chasing after the fleeing digimon mercilessly.

      Black Tailmon stared in horror as ChibiBa slaughtered the transvestites, then whirled and scrambled towards Pandamon and Tsuyosa.

      "BOSS!" she cried.

      Pandamon coughed weakly as he clutched his throat, shaking.

      "Damn it... we can't let them escape!" Ruki growled.  "They'll report us and then Reapermon will still come and kill everyone!"

      "But what can we do without-," Renamon began, then paused and stared as Sheepmon looked up at them.

      Sheepmon blinked, his mouth puffed up like a hamster's, then suddenly spat out their D-Arcs on to the ground in front of them.

      "Alright!  Our D-Arcs!" Takato cheered as he quickly picked up his D-Arc, ignoring the fact that it was covered in spit.

      "Alright, let's trash those bastards!" Ruki grabbed her own.

      "Yeah!" Jenrya picked up his as well.

      Three bright flashes of green, blue, and red illuminated the tent before it exploded with a burst as well.

      Sera snatched up her own D-Arc and stared with wide eyes as the light died down to reveal three Mega level digimon where the three Rookies and their Tamers once stood.  The chains that had once held them were literally shattered apart across the ground.

      Sheepmon stared up in wonder at the awesome forms of Dukemon, Sakuyamon, and Saint Galgomon.

      "Let's go!" Sakuyamon barked.  "Before any escape!"

      "Right!" Dukemon and Saint Galgomon chorused.  The three Megas then charged after the transvestite digimon.

      Sheepmon blinked slowly, then turned to look at Sera before leaning down to grab Tsuyosa's D-Arc in his mouth.

      "Baa," he observed, calmly.

      "..." Sera blinked and looked at Sheepmon.  "... Oh, right," she muttered as she took Tsuyosa's D-Arc from the Champion.

      Sera started to move, but the clanking of the chains reminded her of something important.  "Um..."  She looked at Sheepmon again.  "Do you think you could unchain me please?"

      Sheepmon blinked, then eyed her chains and toddled over to unchain her.

      As he did so, Black Tailmon quickly pulled Pandamon in to a sitting position.  The two ignored ChibiBa as he tore through his opponents as if they were nothing more than rag dolls.

      As Sera waited for her chains to be undone, she couldn't help but remember the news reports of the D-Reaper attack, and wondered what it was like to be one with your partner digimon like the other Tamers had become.

      "BOSS!" Opossomon squealed as he darted over to Pandamon.  "Are you okay!?"

      Pandamon coughed, then slumped and looked at the two of them weakly.  "... S-Sorry... to endanger you..." he wheezed, his voice broken.

      "Boss...," Opossomon snuggled Pandamon and purred cutely.  "Just rest and feel better now!"

      "... Boss... why didn't you tell us?" Black Tailmon's ears drooped.  "Why didn't you tell us how you felt about them?"

      "..." Pandamon closed his eyes.  "... You needed someone... to look up to..."

      "But we have you, boss!" Opossomon tilted his head.  "We don't need to look up to a transvestite pervert."

      Pandamon opened his eyes and stared at Opossomon, before his eyes started to water.  "..."

      Once free of the chains, Sera hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do.  Quickly she made her decision and darted over to the fallen Tsuyosa, kneeling down next to the unconscious boy then checking his pulse.  Thankfully Tsuyosa's pulse was strong, hinting that it was only a minor injury.  He also didn't appear to have any physical damage that she could see aside from a slightly red throat.

      Sera sighed with relief and glanced up at ChibiBa, flinching as she saw him tear through numerous transvestite digimon.  "..."  She forced her gaze away and scrambled to her feet, deciding that Tsuyosa was safe enough for her to leave him where he was so she could look for Beelzebumon.

      Quickly she darted off deeper into the tent, searching for her partner.  She didn't have to go far in to the tent, as it was mostly destroyed and barely standing.

      In the middle of the tent, surrounded by scrap iron, was a very dazed Impmon.

      "Impmon!" Sera cried as she quickly darted over to her digimon.  She kneeled down next to Impmon and scooped him up into her arms.  "Are you okay?"

      Impmon blinked slowly, then shrugged before he passed out.


	47. Emotional Train Ride

Authors' Notes: Sorry for taking so very long. x.x; We're really off schedule, huh?  Hopefully this chapter will be with the wait.  It's filled with a lot of angst so get tissues ready.

      As always, we have censored and uncensored.   This version is the uncensored, so if you wanted the censored...  RUN AWAY!  RUN AWAYYYYYYY!

      We hope you enjoy!

      Oh, and those of you that want to become our betareaders, please leave your e-mail so we can try and make that happen.  Frozen Phoenix please contact us so we can add you to our betareaders.  We need your email if we're to send you the chapter! XD;

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 33: Emotional Train Ride_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Food for Gu-il-mon!  Food, food, food for GU-IL-MON!"

      "... He... eats a lot, doesn't he?" Black Tailmon sweatdropped as she watched the Tamers' digimon eat.

      The digimon and their Tamers sat at a large red blanket, which was covered from one end to the other with food, save for where the Tamers and their digimon were.

      "Well...  He hasn't eaten in a while," Takato sweatdropped.

      "FOOOOOD!" Guilmon sang as he grabbed a bunch of cookies and shoved them in to his mouth.  "Mmm!"

      "Thank you for the meal," Renamon said, calmly, as she munched on an apple and some onigiri.

      "Yeah, thanks," Terriermon said through a large mouthful of curry.

      "GRRRRR!" Impmon and ChibiBa glared at each other, fighting over a large hunk of roasted meat with a thick bone through it.  Each had an end of the meat, their jaws firmly clamped down on the bone where it stuck out, growling at each other.

      Pandamon let out a tiny cough in reply as he snuggled the large scarf around his throat, which kept the icepacks firmly in place as they tended to his sore throat.

      Opossomon glared daggers at Impmon, quietly seething at the sight of the cute purple digimon.  The only reason why Opossomon hadn't attacked Impmon the moment he saw him was because Black Tailmon reminded him that he looked very uncute when he's vengeful.

      Black Tailmon and Opossomon sat on either end of Pandamon, keeping an eye on their wounded boss, as Sheepmon carried a tray on his back with some glasses of milk and a plate of cookies.

      Pandamon coughed suddenly, which sounded like a gurgle.  Black Tailmon blinked, and then regarded Takato.

      "He asks how 'Tsu-chan' is," she said.

      Ruki snorted as she glanced back at Tsuyosa, who curled up on the blanket with his back to them.  He rested a few feet behind them, his head on a pillow.

      "Still unconscious...," Ruki muttered.  "That boy's too fragile."

      "Well he was just choked by an Ultimate level digimon you know," Takato commented, frowning, then glanced at Tsuyosa.

      "And then he gets dropped and hits his head, getting knocked unconscious," Ruki replied. "He's like a glass doll!"

      "That's not really a fair thing to say, Ruki," Jenrya shook his head.  "You know Tsuyosa can't help being sick."

      "Maybe, but it was a bad idea to bring him," Ruki shook her head.  "This place is dangerous... and even more dangerous for someone as weak as him.  He could die."

      "But...  Tsu's got ChibiBa to protect him," Takato protested, torn between concern and standing up for Tsuyosa.  "So... he shouldn't be in too much danger..."

      "That's another thing!" Ruki glanced at ChibiBa, scowling.  "He's a loose cannon.  He only cares about Tsuyosa...  I doubt he even cares if the Digital World's destroyed.  He'd destroy anything to 'protect Tsu'.  Probably even us!"

      "..." Takato couldn't think of how to answer that as he remembered all too well what it was like being on the receiving end of ChibiBa's wrath.

      ChibiBa was apparently ignoring the Tamers as he munched, still fighting Impmon over the food.

      "... But he did promise Tsuyosa to not hurt anyone...," Jenrya pointed out quietly.

      "It was a mistake to bring them," Ruki grunted, crossing her arms.  "Can you IMAGINE what would happen if Tsuyosa died?  ChibiBa'd probably go on a psychopathic murdering spree!"

      "... But... ChibiBa wouldn't let that happen...," Takato said softly.  "And neither would we..."

      "Look," Ruki massaged her forehead.  "Look at him!  He's practically useless!  He's either slowing us down or getting knocked unconscious!  Do you really want to endanger us and him!?"

      "... No...," Takato muttered as he looked back at Tsuyosa.  "... But..."

      "..."  Jenrya sighed.  "... I don't agree that Tsuyosa's useless, but you do have a point there, Ruki."

      "Remember what happened the LAST TIME?" Ruki fixed them with a pointed gaze.

      Takato and Jenrya both flinched as they did indeed remember what happened the last time they went to the Digital World all too well.

      Slowly, Tsuyosa glanced over his shoulder at the group.  He didn't say anything as he listened, his expression hurt.  "..."

      "Do we really want something like that to happen again?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes, and then slowly stood up.  He moved very quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself, as he snuck away from the others.

      "... Of course not," Jenrya sighed as he shook his head.

      "... No...," Takato muttered.  "... But... it just doesn't seem right..."

      Pandamon, Black Tailmon, and Opossomon looked at each other, though they didn't get involved.

      Slowly, Tsuyosa walked further and further away from the Tamers, staring at the ground as he went while lost in his own thoughts.  He knew the Tamers were right; Ruki was simply saying what he felt inside all along.  He wasn't one of them; he was just a setback.

      ChibiBa was obviously valuable to the team but Tsuyosa offset his value.  They were almost completely opposite.  ChibiBa being a great help while Tsuyosa just held everyone back.  However, no one but Ruki had the courage to say so.  Even worse, Ruki only said it when she thought he wasn't listening.  They probably thought he'd have an attack or a seizure if they told him the truth.

      "... Um...," Sera spoke up timidly.  "... I know I'm just the newbie Tamer, but shouldn't you all ASK Tsu what HE thinks first before making any decisions?"

      "He's unconscious," Ruki grunted.  "How can we?"

      Sera glanced over to where Tsuyosa had been, and then blinked.  "... Not anymore," she commented as she pointed at the vacant space where the formerly unconscious Tamer had been.  "He's gone."

      "..." Ruki blinked, then sighed and touched her forehead as if she had a headache.  "He was awake and heard us, didn't he?"

      "... Looks that way," Jenrya sighed.

      "I'll go find him," Takato said as he stood up.

      "... I was just worried about him...," Ruki grumbled as her cheek twitched slightly.  Renamon glanced over at her Tamer, her expression soft.

      "... We know, Ruki," Jenrya said gently.

      Takato nodded in agreement before he hurried to look for Tsuyosa.  He hoped the other Tamer hadn't done something foolish like head back for the Real World without the rest of them.

      Tsuyosa didn't have a chance to get very far as he ended up coming to a stop by a large rock formation a little ways away from the circus.  He sat on a small stone, staring up at the moon quietly.

      Tsuyosa sighed heavily as he stared at the moon.  "..."

      He didn't know what to do.  He didn't know if he should go to the Real World and leave ChibiBa or stay and continue to weigh the group down.  Either way, he knew he was just bothering them.  Even if they didn't want to admit it, he knew it.

      "Tsu!" Takato called as he left the tent.  He didn't have to look around for long before he spotted Tsuyosa.  "Tsu!"  Takato then quickly darted over to the other boy.

      "..." Tsuyosa didn't respond as he stared at the moon, trying to get his emotions under control.  He was mildly confused by the fact that there was even a moon at all; ChibiBa had said once they didn't have moons in the Digital World, trying to excuse his confusion over a moon in the Real World.  ChibiBa obviously wouldn't lie about such a thing so Tsuyosa figured it must have been a result of Reapermon.  Either way, he was soothed by it.

      He wasn't too surprised by the fact that Takato came after him and no one else; Takato cared, he knew that.  Unfortunately, he also knew that his presence worried Takato most of all.

      "Tsu?" Takato repeated as he approached Tsuyosa, concern evident in his voice.

      "... Yes?"  Tsuyosa refused to look at Takato.  He didn't want to see Takato's eyes; if he saw any pity there, he didn't know what he'd do.

      "..."  Takato paused as he tried to figure out what to say.  He fumbled for what to say as he stood directly behind Tsuyosa.  He wanted to say something, anything, to convince Tsuyosa that Ruki was wrong and that they needed him to stay.  "... I'm sorry...," Takato muttered, at a loss for what else that could be said.

      "... Why?" Tsuyosa closed his eyes.  "It's the truth.  I'm just slowing you all down."

      "... No, you're not," Takato said firmly.  "If it wasn't for you and ChibiBa... it might have been too late for us to evolve and save Pandamon."

      "..." Tsuyosa opened his eyes again.  "... I'm slow and sick.  It's like those wildlife shows...  I'm the one all the predators will go after first.  Survival of the fittest..."

      "... Tsu...," Takato gently placed his hand on Tsuyosa's shoulder.  "This ISN'T one of those wildlife shows...  You're important to the team.  The only reason we were talking about it in there was because we were worried about you..."

      "... It'd probably be best if you left me here or sent me back to the Real World," Tsuyosa sighed.  "So you won't HAVE to worry about me."

      "Tsu...," Takato whispered softly.  Impulsively, he wrapped his arms around Tsuyosa from behind, and hugged him comfortingly.  "... Do you really want to go back...?"  Takato fumbled as he tried to explain his feelings.  "I... I mean...  I don't want... what we said to make you feel like you have to..."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned back in to Takato, shaking.  "No... no, I don't want to go back... but... but I don't want you all to think I'm useless or... or a burden..."  It was the truth; he didn't want to go back.  Maybe he was being selfish, but he wanted to stay with Takato.  However, he couldn't help but feel that his desire to stay would end up hurting Takato and the others.

      "... We don't think you're useless or a burden...," Takato whispered gently.  "... Ruki might seem harsh... but she's really just worried about you...  We all are..."

      "..." Tsuyosa tilted his head so that his forehead touched against Takato's cheek.  "... I know... I just... feel... like I'm just making things worse..."

      "... No... you're not, Tsu..."  Takato leaned in as closely to Tsuyosa as he could, holding the other boy close.  "... I... I'm glad you came with us..."

      "..."  Tsuyosa tilted his head and buried his face in to Takato's neck.  "... I'm... glad too... I..."

      Takato blushed lightly as he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of Tsuyosa's hair.  "... Don't leave... if you don't want to..."

      "... I don't want to leave, Takato..." Tsuyosa murmured.

      "... I don't want you to, either...," Takato mumbled into Tsuyosa's hair.

      "TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

      Tsuyosa's eyes opened wide just as a small black Mega tackled him, knocking all three of them off their feet to the ground.  Takato yelped as he ended up being a landing pad for both Tsuyosa and ChibiBa.

      "Tsuuuu!" ChibiBa hiccupped, his breath smelling strongly of roast.  "Where'd you go?  I was WORRIED!"

      "I... I'm okay, ChibiBa," Tsuyosa muttered.

      Takato grunted as he tried to crawl out from under the other boy and his digimon.

      "Well, here's where you are," Ruki walked up slowly, her arms crossed.  "... Wondering where you went."

      Tsuyosa slowly stood up, ChibiBa in his arms, and stared at the ground.  "..."

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Jenrya asked as he walked alongside Ruki.

      "... ..." Tsuyosa refused to look up as he hugged ChibiBa.  "... Yes."

      Takato sighed in relief and climbed to his feet quickly once Tsuyosa got off of him.  Takato then looked at the other boy before he looked at Ruki and Jenrya.  "... Tsu wants to stay with us...," Takato said quietly.

      ChibiBa blinked, then glanced at Takato.  He made a nasty face and curled up his lips to show off his teeth.  "OF COURSE HE IS!  We're gonna kick Reapermon's Rocky Horror Hieny!"

      "... All right," Ruki nodded, crossing her arms as Renamon stood behind her.

      "... If you're sure you want to," Jenrya nodded slowly, with Terriermon sitting on his shoulders.

      "..." Tsuyosa said nothing as ChibiBa narrowed his eyes.

      "You don't want Tsu here or somethin'?" he growled.

      "ChibiBa... please don't...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "We want Tsu here, ChibiBa," Takato protested.  "We're just worried about him like you are.  That's all."

      "Oh," ChibiBa blinked, then snorted.  "I can protect him just fine.  It's YOU all I'm worried about!"

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon suddenly landed on the rock near them.

      "Eh?" Tsuyosa blinked, suddenly.

      Black Tailmon tilted her head and crossed her arms.

      "Yer wanted back at the circus.  We're packing up and headin' out," she said.

**_*~*_**

      The jingle of bells pierced the air as a team of eight Moosemon trotted across the plains, decorated up like carousel horses with ribbons, jewels, and flowers.  A long train of beautifully decorated circus wagons trailed behind the team, connected by multicolored chains and ribbons.  Pandamon sat just behind the team on the main wagon, guiding them with bright red reigns.

      Black Tailmon balanced on her large ball, patrolling the wagon train back and forth to make sure everything went smoothly as well as make sure none of the circus digimon got lost.

      Opossomon hovered overhead, drifting lazily along by his balloons at the same pace as the caravan.  He looked around as he floated along, keeping a lookout for any sort of trouble.

      Sheepmon snored and bleated in his sleep as he took a nap in the last car of the wagon train.

      ChibiBa trotted alongside the wagon, carrying a massive bundle of supplies.

      "Why do I hafta do this?" he grunted.

      "You're strong and unknown to Reapermon," Pandamon replied, his voice surprisingly better.  "We need all the help we can get."

      "I wanna hide in the cabin with Tsu!" ChibiBa growled.

      "I'm sure you do... but we need your help," Pandamon retorted.

      "Why does that goggle boy get to ride with Tsu in that cabin!?" ChibiBa demanded, harshly.

      "Because we could only fit two kids and their digimon in each hidden cabin... and Takato simply claimed the one with Tsu-chan in it FIRST!" Pandamon replied.

      "Opportunistic little...," ChibiBa growled.

      "Yes, he is," Pandamon agreed.

      "Nyar, less talk... more work!" Black Tailmon giggled as she rolled past.  "We have a lot of distance to cover before we get to Reapermon's Love Pad."

      "... Reapermon's WHAT!?" ChibiBa's jaw dropped.

      "Love Pad," Pandamon replied.

      "..." ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa smiled slightly at Takato as they sat together on a large couch.  The cabin itself was arranged much like a cabin in a real train, with two couches facing each other on either side of the walls.  There were no windows, as anyone could look in as well as look out.

      The two Tamers were alone in their cabin because Guilmon was hungrier than anticipated because of ChibiBa's grueling training session, thus he had ran off into the dining cabin and eaten about half of the food before he curled up for a nap there.  Since it would be difficult to move the full digimon without disturbing him from his nap, it was opted that he remain there and recover his energy.

      Takato couldn't help but wonder what sort of grueling training regimen that ChibiBa exposed Guilmon too, and why Guilmon mentioned something about ChibiBa wanting to take his butt.

      Takato shook his head slightly, trying not to worry about his partner, as Guilmon was perfectly safe now that the circus was on their side.  Instead he turned his thoughts to other pressing matters.

      "So...  How are you feeling now?" Takato asked slowly as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "... I mean... after... what happened... with Lady Devimon and..."  He trailed off, fumbling, as he wasn't sure how to phrase his question delicately.

      "... My throat's a bit sore but it's okay," Tsuyosa replied.  "And I have a small bump but that's okay, too... only hurts when I touch it."

      "That's good," Takato smiled slightly then blinked and blushed as he realized how what he said could have been taken badly.  "That you're better I mean, not that it still hurts," he quickly amended.

      "Yeah, I know," Tsuyosa smiled, then shifted in the seat to get comfortable.  "... I hope ChibiBa behaves out there."

      "Yeah, and I hope Guilmon doesn't wake up before we get there and eat all of the food," Takato joked lightly, hiding his concern and worry for what they were about to do.  He let out a soft sigh and leaned back against the seat.

      The two boys sat in companionable silence; the only sounds heard being their soft breathing and the mostly muffled sounds of the wagons moving.

      Takato shifted slightly then grimaced as he felt the case that contained his cards poke his rear from where they were contained in his back pocket.  As he reached back and pulled them out, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

      "Hey, Tsu," he said as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "How about we play a game of Digimon to pass the time?"

      Tsuyosa looked up, and then nodded.  "Okay..."

**_*~*_**

      "At least it's comfortable," Ruki sighed as she leaned back against the wall, Renamon next to her.  "Rather nice for a cell."

      "Sheesh, I bet you'd complain if they booked us in a five-star hotel," Terriermon quipped as he lounged on one of the couches next to Jenrya.

      "This is just one more attempt to keep an eye on us," Ruki muttered.

      "Well, it's either this or we walk along outside the wagon train," Jenrya pointed out.

      "If we walked outside, then Reapermon's men might see us," Renamon added.

      "... Yeah, I know," Ruki grunted.  "But it still irritates me to be locked in here."

      "It irritates you when the sun rises," Terriermon quipped.

      "Terriermon," Jenrya scolded.

      "Heh," Ruki quirked a smirk.  Renamon chuckled quietly.

      "Now all we have to do is wait," Renamon looked at Ruki.  "... For once, the element of surprise is on our side."

      "Let's hope it stays that way," Ruki grunted.  "Pandamon better not pull anything."

      "I don't see why he would," Jenrya commented.  "I mean... he did try to protect us from Reapermon's followers."

      "... I know," Ruki shook her head.  "But why did he do that?"

      "Maybe he doesn't like perverts?" Terriermon suggested half-jokingly.

      "But I thought he was one," Ruki smirked, slightly.

      "Ruki!" Renamon scolded, though in a joking manner as she grinned.

      "Wow...  First Renamon made a joke, and now Ruki," Terriermon said, awed, then chuckled slightly.  "Either you two're developing a sense of humor or you're pod people."

      "Sorry, just came out," Ruki smirked again.  "I'll try harder next time."

      "I dunno, I think it's good you're both loosening up a little," Jenrya smirked.

      "Bah," Ruki snorted as she chuckled.

**_*~*_**

      "You know... despite the bad stuff that's happened... I'm having fun so far."

      "Yup," Impmon said as he leaned against Sera, using her side as a pillow as he stretched out.

      Sera smiled at Impmon, noticing how cute he looked, then reached out to rub his tummy.  "This is like a dream come true," she muttered quietly, then smirked.  "Despite how cliché that sounds."

      Impmon stretched out and squirmed a bit, snickering.  "... Yeah... even with me getting wet, frozen, torn up, and crushed!"

      "Yeah," Sera smirked as she continued rubbing, although privately she didn't like being reminded of how Impmon was nearly killed.  "But the good parts more than make up for it, right?"  She tilted her head slightly, almost curiously as she looked down at Impmon.

      "Yup," Impmon repeated, grinning up at her.  He then tilted his head.  "The food made all the difference!" he said, teasingly.

      "Oh, just the food made it worthwhile?" Sera asked, obviously pretending to sound hurt.  "What does that make me then?"

      "Heeey, nothing in this word can compare to food!" Impmon smirked, and then poked Sera in the side.  "... Well, AAAALMOST nothing!"

      "Oh?" Sera giggled lightly, then acted as if she had no idea what Impmon was talking about.  "What could possibly compare?"

      "You know," Impmon stuck his tongue out in response. 

      "Maaaaybe," Sera giggled and stuck out her tongue in retaliation as she traced the smiley face on Impmon's stomach.

      "EEE!  That TICKLES!" Impmon squeaked as he squirmed.

      "Oh, really?"  Sera smirked wickedly as she giggled and ran her fingers along Impmon's smiley face in a tickling manner.  Impmon squealed and squirmed again, trying to get away from Sera's tickling.

      Sera would have none of that, however, as she reached out with both hands to keep Impmon in place as she continued to tickle him.  Impmon squealed again as he struggled, laughing so hard his eyes started to water.

      "Had enough?" Sera smirked as she continued tickling him.

      "YES!" Impmon gasped.

      "Oh, okay," Sera giggled as she ran her fingers tickling along Impmon's stomach one last time before she let him go.

      Impmon gasped for air as he closed his eyes, breathless.  Sera giggled lightly, smiling, as she watched her partner as he recovered.

      "You're mean," Impmon sulked.

      "I couldn't resist," Sera smiled playfully.  "You're just so cute!"

      "BAH!" Impmon snorted.

      "Just like that," Sera smirked.

      "I'm cool, not cute," Impmon crossed his arms.

      "What?  You can't be both?"  Sera smiled and poked Impmon's nose lightly.

      "I'm not cute," Impmon repeated, sulkily.

      Sera merely giggled in response.

      "Well, I'm NOT," Impmon muttered.

      "I'm guessing you won't give up protesting until I agree, right?"

      "Right."

      "Oh, okay then."

      "... Yeah, and don't you forget it!" Impmon smirked, though he was unsure if he actually won.

      "I won't," Sera giggled.

      "... Okay then!" Impmon blinked and tapped his chin.

      Sera hummed thoughtfully to herself as she looked at Impmon for a few moments, before looking somewhat curious.  "Hey... Impmon?" she asked suddenly as she tilted her head slightly.

      "... What?" Impmon blinked.

      "What's it like... to evolve with someone?" Sera said slowly, not exactly sure how to phrase it, as she was unfamiliar with what terminology to use.

      "Dunno, never biomerged before," Impmon shrugged.

      "Oh," Sera blinked.  She paused for a few moments, a thoughtful look on her face.

      "... Whut?" Impmon eyed Sera, suddenly very wary.

      "What would happen if we were to biomerge?" Sera blinked at Impmon, tilting her head slightly again.

      "... Don't even go there, toots," Impmon retorted.

      "Why?" Sera blinked again.

      "For one, there's no REASON to.  I can go Mega on my own," Impmon replied.  "Goggle boy and the others biomerge with their digimon because they can't go Mega without it.  ... Well, except for Guilmon... but when he did it, he was outta control."

      "Oh."  Sera wasn't sure whether or not to ask about Guilmon's evolution, but decided it wasn't really important.  "But how can you evolve to Mega without any help anyway?"

      "I just do," Impmon shrugged, and then smirked.  "I'm just that strong and cool, I guess!"

      "And I have nothing to do with that?"  Sera tilted her head slightly, an odd expression on her face.  "Huh."

      Impmon shrugged.

      Sera then smiled crookedly.  "Well, I guess someone as cute as you deserves to be the strongest of all," she teased.

      "You bet!" Impmon smirked.

      Sera suddenly burst out giggling.

      "... What?" Impmon blinked.

      Sera forced down her mirth as much as she could, but still she shook slightly with barely repressed laughter.  "... Nothing," she said 'innocently'.

      "... Yer weird sometimes, Sera," Impmon eyed her.

      "... You completely missed what I said didn't you?" Sera asked as she tried not to laugh.

      "... About what?" Impmon stared.

      "Well...  You just agreed with me when I said you were cute," Sera smirked victoriously.

      "What?" Impmon blinked, then yelped and flailed.  "ACK!  DAMN IT!  KNOCK IT OFF WITH THAT CUTE CRAP ALREADY!"

      Sera couldn't help but burst out giggling again at Impmon's reaction.

      Impmon's cheek twitched and he crossed his arms to sulk.  "HURMPH!"

      Sera's laughter quickly died down as she noticed how irritable Impmon was.  It was obvious that he wasn't just pretending or pouting; he was angry.

      "... Impmon?" Sera blinked, slightly alarmed.

      "... ..."  Impmon glowered angrily and refused to look at Sera.  "What."

      "..."  Sera blinked slowly, confused as to why Impmon was so upset.  "... Why are you so angry at being called cute?"  She wondered if it was a 'guy thing', but quickly dismissed that thought, as he was far too upset for that to be the only reason.

      "... 'Cuz I don't like being insulted," Impmon replied, his cheek twitching slightly.

      "Insulted?" Sera blinked, surprised.  "I wasn't insulting you.  I was just teasing you a little like we've been doing."

      "Oh.  Right.  'Teasing'.  Basically everyone making fun of me."  Impmon scowled.  No one ever cared how he felt.  He took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm down.  "Bein' called cute is insulting."

      "..."  Sera was stunned momentarily.  "But... I wasn't making fun of you, Impmon!" she protested strongly, then lowered her voice slightly.  "I was just joking around, like you were doing.  I mean... before you got upset...  I didn't realize that you weren't pretending..."  She shook her head slightly.  "I just don't see why you don't like being called cute."

      "HOW is it joking around when you're the only one laughing!?" Impmon snapped.  "I told you to stop and you wouldn't!  NO ONE ever stops!  No one ever listens to me!"

      "..."  Sera went absolutely silent, shocked, as Impmon's words sunk in.  All those times that they teased each other, she now realized that not once when she called him cute did he give any sort of sign that he was just pretending to be upset.  She had assumed it because she didn't really think one little word could have such an affect on anyone.  She tried to speak, but words failed her.

      "Feh, why should anyone listen to me anyway?" Impmon muttered to himself.  "It's not like my feelings are important." he thought, wryly.

      "... Impmon... I..."  Sera tried desperately to think of what to say.

      "Bein' called cute is insulting.  I ain't a stuffed animal or a pansy ass," Impmon muttered.  "And that's exactly what cute means."

      "... Impmon... I... I don't think you're either of those things," Sera protested as she shook her head, finally able to think again.  "That's not what I mean when I call you cute...!  Not at all!"

      "That's what cute means," Impmon repeated.  "You call stuffed animals cute.  You call Culumon cute.  You don't call ME cute."

      "No it doesn't," Sera said firmly.  "At least not when I say it to you.  Cute to me means I like looking at you and enjoy everything you do."

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched visibly.  "Cute things can't do anything.  They're just there to be ogled and stared at.  Cute things are pathetic and get beaten up all the time."

      "But you're cute and you can do a lot, and are very strong."  Sera then grimaced as she realized how badly what she said could be taken.  "That didn't come out right...," she muttered then tried to quickly explain her thoughts before Impmon got the wrong idea.  "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think of you as a stuffed animal or a doll...  You're a lot more than that."

      "I'm not cute," Impmon grunted.  "And I know I'm much more than a stuffed animal or a doll.  That's why I'm not cute!"

      "Cute can mean a lot of things...  Like handsome, gorgeous, and sexy."  A blush crept across Sera's cheeks.  "At least that's how I mean it.  I never call you cute to insult you..."

      "Then why not say handsome, gorgeous, or sexy?" Impmon crossed his arms.  "Why say 'cute'?"

      "Because cute is easier to say.  Because you're all that... and more."  Sera's blush darkened.

      Impmon twitched visibly, his expression darkening drastically as his temper flared up.  He strongly fought his desire to snap that apparently his feelings on the matter were being compromised for what 'was easier' but knew Sera didn't really mean it like that.

      Sera couldn't help but notice how quickly Impmon's mood was spiraling downwards and grimaced.  "Good job.  You've just screwed up again," she thought bitterly to herself.

      "Sorry...," she said aloud, quietly, as she looked away from Impmon, not wanting to see how upset he was.  "I'll stop calling you that...  I didn't realize you hated it so much...  I just thought..."  She trailed off and shook her head a bit, deciding to stop before she accidentally said something wrong again.

      "..."  Impmon sighed, forcing himself to relax.  "Cute is an insult meant to hurt.  Terriermon uses it all the time, purposely trying to hurt me.  I don't like being called cute."

      "..."  Sera debated what to say or if she should even say anything, considering how every time she tried to help she seemed to screw things up.  She sighed quietly.  "... I'm sorry... I didn't know...," she repeated quietly.  "Usually cute is used as a complement... I mean... I think of myself as cute..."  She paused as she felt she was being too defensive and neglecting Impmon's feelings.  She looked at him, trying not to show how she was feeling.  "I never meant for it to hurt you, Impmon...  I never want to hurt you..."

      "... I know you didn't," Impmon felt bad that Sera was upset but he just didn't want to be called cute.  Why couldn't they both be happy?

      Sera looked at her partner for a moment, then leaned over and pulled Impmon in her arms, hugging him close.  "Impmon...," she mumbled softly into his ear as she closed her eyes, at a loss for anything else to say.

      Impmon closed his eyes and sighed. He knew there was no point in arguing; no one would ever stop.  Everyone would always pick on him.  He deserved it, anyway.  "... Eh.  It doesn't matter anyway."

      "... What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Sera asked as she leaned back slightly so she could look at Impmon while still holding him.

      "Because it doesn't," Impmon replied, forcing his tone to be monotone as he struggled to bury this pain with the others.  "No one will ever stop."

      "... I'll stop... I said I would," Sera said quietly.  "How you feel matters to me... a lot... Impmon..."

      "..."  Impmon didn't want to discuss it anymore.  He knew that even if Sera stopped, he always had Terriermon to fill the void.  Being tormented was one of life's little punishments and he would have to get used to it.  "... Anyway..."

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes, feeling like she was the worst Tamer who ever lived.  She hugged Impmon closely again, unable to look at him because of how ashamed she felt, but also wanting to make him feel better at the same time.  "... Impmon... I love you...  You mean everything to me...  I'm sorry for being so stupid...  I'll stop...  I really will...  I didn't mean to break my promise...  I'm sorry..."

      "..."  Impmon closed his eyes.  He knew the entire argument was just one more piece of evidence that he was hurting Sera and should never have gotten involved in her life.  It was just one more pain to lock away because he was too selfish to just leave.  "I know...  I know.  You're not stupid."

      Sera closed her eyes as they grew uncomfortably moist.  She desperately wanted to heal all the pain in Impmon's heart, but all she seemed to do was just make it worse and never better.  "... Yes I am," she muttered, forcing her voice to remain level, and trying to keep from crying despite the tears in her eyes.  "If I wasn't stupid I wouldn't keep hurting you like this..."

      Impmon flinched and covered his ears, just not wanting to hear Sera insult herself anymore.  Apparently that happened every time he tried to talk about his feelings in depth with her.  He vowed never to do it again.  "You aren't!"

      "..."  Sera blinked her eyes open as she noticed his motion.  Part of her felt like screaming in frustration; everything she did seemed to turn out wrong.  "... Why does this have to be so hard?" she asked aloud before she could stop herself.  She covered her eyes with one hand, desperately trying not to cry, and berating herself mentally.

      "... It doesn't have to be," Impmon muttered.

      "..."  Sera went quiet for a moment, trying to get her emotions under control.  "... Impmon... please... tell me...  How can I help you be happy... and stop hurting so much...?"

      "I am happy," Impmon replied.  "I'm not hurting."

      "..."  Sera couldn't respond, as she knew that it was a lie.  "... Like Pandamon?" she finally asked, her voice a quiet whisper.

      "I'm happy," Impmon repeated.  "It doesn't matter what kind of happiness.  It's not about that.  It's about... forgiveness."

      "... What?" Sera blinked slowly.

      "I can't... WON'T forgive myself," Impmon replied.

      "... Why not?" Sera felt a lump form in her throat.

      "Because I don't deserve it," Impmon replied.

      "... Impmon...," Sera breathed, somehow managing to keep her voice level.  A tear trickled down Sera's cheek against her will.  "You do...  You do!  You're wonderful, and no matter what's happened in the past... you've paid for it... you've been forgiven...!"

      Impmon smiled sadly at Sera.  "No I haven't.  I haven't been forgiven by anyone except Juri."

      "... The others never forgave you...?" Sera asked, surprised, as she had thought the other Tamers and their digimon were on good terms with Impmon.  Everyone except for Terriermon that is, but even he didn't seem to be holding a grudge, just a rivalry of sorts.

      "No," Impmon shook his head.  "None of them ever said they forgave me.  They just keep their distance from me... and from the subject."

      "... That doesn't mean you don't deserve forgiveness...," Sera said weakly as she wiped away all trace of her tears before leaning back so that she could look at Impmon.  "... I... I don't know why they didn't say it... but... maybe... maybe they thought Juri forgiveness was all that was needed...?"  She knew she was just grasping at straws, as she really didn't know the others that well at all, but she didn't want to believe that they were so cruel on purpose.

      Impmon simply chuckled dryly.  "Either way... it doesn't matter.  There's only one person who could change my mind about whether I deserve forgiveness or not... and he's dead.  By my own claws."  Impmon shrugged.  "It's a lost cause, toots."

      "..." Sera slipped a hand up to gently cup Impmon's cheek, rubbing him there a little with her thumb.  "... Impmon... I'm sure... that he'd forgive you too...  I mean... if his Tamer forgave you... then I'm sure that means he would have too..."  She sighed softly.  "It's not a lost cause... and neither are you..."

      "No one knows," Impmon shook his head.  "Not you, not me, not even Juri.  Doesn't mean a thing... so there's no point in talkin' about it."

      "... Maybe... when Primary Village is fixed... and Leomon's reborn... you can ask him...?" Sera suggested, uncertain.

      "If he'll even bother," Impmon replied.  "Until then, I ain't forgivin' myself... and no one else should, either."

      "... I know I can't change your mind... but... please... remember... I want you to be happy... TRUELY happy... and I'll do anything so you can be... even if you can't forgive yourself...," she whispered tenderly, fumbling over words.  "I love you."  With that she leaned in to kiss Impmon softly before he could respond.

      Impmon blinked and blushed at the kiss, then shrugged.  "... I know that..."  He didn't want to tell Sera that there wasn't anything she could do.  It just seemed that every time he tried to tell her how he felt, she'd start insulting herself.

      Impmon sighed.  At least she wasn't going to call him cute.  He still remembered the horrible experience he had at the hooves of that horse Deva.  He could remember every blow and humiliating second that he suffered.  He wasn't cute.  He couldn't afford to be cute; cute meant you were weak.  Weakness lead to pain.  No, Impmon couldn't be cute.

      Sera looked at Impmon in silence for a few moments, knowing that she should say or do something more for him, but completely at a loss as to what.  "... I'm sorry that I'm not much help," she sighed softly as she started to rub his back, trying to be comforting even if her words weren't.

      "... What do you mean?" Impmon hoped she wouldn't start insulting herself again.  He wouldn't be able to take it if she did.

      Sera blinked, as she had thought it was obvious, then shook her head.  "... I mean... well... for one thing... I'm just not a very good Tamer...," she sighed again.

      Impmon had enough.

      "Oh for the love of the Matrix, **STOP IT!**" he snarled.  He whirled about to grab her shoulders.  "**STOP IT, STOP IT, _STOP IT!!!_**"

      Sera couldn't help but yelp as her eyes widened, completely caught off-guard by Impmon's outburst.

      "WHY DO YOU DO THAT?!" Impmon sputtered.  "WHY!?  WHY do you make EVERYTHING out to be your fault or INSULT yourself!?  WHY!?"

      Impmon waved his claws.

      "Wait!  Don't answer that!  I DON'T CARE!" he snarled.  "STOP IT!  STOP IT!  It's not your fault!  NONE of this is your fault!  It's MY fault that I KILLED PEOPLE!  It's MY fault that I'm guilty!  It's MY fault that you can't help me!  IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!  WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING IT IS?!"

      Sera flinched at Impmon's screaming.  She hadn't expected him to get so angry, especially because of why he was angry.  She looked down before she closed her eyes, silent for a few more moments.  "... Because it usually is my fault...," she admitted quietly once she was able to speak again.  "... Whenever someone I care for is upset... it's my fault..."

      "IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!" Impmon screamed, tugging on his ears.  "WHO THE HELL SAID IT WAS?!"

      Sera flinched again and resisted the urge to cover her ears or curl into a fetal position and cry.  She was used to being screamed at, even if she didn't expect it.  "... I..."  She went silent again for a moment.  "... No one... but... usually it is... for some reason or another... so I just... thought it was again...," she whispered quietly.  "... My..." She paused again for a moment. "... They get angry... and scream at me... and usually apologizing helps... or they just leave..."

      "They? Who's they?!" Impmon demanded, angrily.  "It isn't your fault!  Whoever made you think that is full of crap and I have half a mind to go beat them within an inch of their lives!"

      "..."  Sera went silent again, because she didn't want to tell Impmon exactly who yelled at her the most.  "... They... they don't mean it...," she protested weakly.  "... It's because I'm selfish... and childish...  I can only deal with children... or those I don't care about... without screwing up..."  She lowered her voice, speaking quietly, unthinkingly.  "... That's why I'm always alone..."

      "..." Impmon twitched violently.  "Now you listen to me, and listen good.  You are not selfish... you are not childish... you can deal with a lot more than just children or those you don't care about... and you don't screw up."  Impmon fixed Sera with a gaze, his expression deadly serious.  "And if I ever find out who told you all that bullcrap, I'll make them regret it."

      Tears returned to Sera's eyes as she met Impmon's hardened gaze.  "... Impmon..."  She closed her eyes again as tears trickled down her cheeks.  "... It... it just... it... feels that way...," she whispered, the tide of words flowing out against her will because of her emotions.  "I... I mean... I shouldn't complain... I can't complain... because... my family's rich... and has connections... I'm cute... healthy... and get good grades... and other things like that... and I can't really do anything for anyone... where it counts..."  She went silent for a moment again as she wiped at her tears.  "... And I'm upsetting you... because I'm complaining... and acting... this way... when you need comfort more..."

      Impmon twitched violently and whirled to dig his claws in to the chair, snarling angrily as he tore at the fabric.  "DAMN IT!  DAMN IT!  DAMN IT!  **DAMN IT ALL TO THE DARK OCEAN!**"

      Sera cringed and covered her ears as she shook slightly.  "... I'm sorry...," she said weakly.  She then decided not to speak anymore, as all it accomplished was just making Impmon angry.

      Once the couch was thoroughly mangled, Impmon slumped in to a sitting position and panted.  After a few minutes, he looked at Sera. "That's a load of crap, Sera. And you're upsetting me because you won't stop insulting yourself."

      "..."  Sera let her hands drop down limply into her lap, as she remained silent.  If she didn't say anything, she wouldn't upset him anymore, so she opened her eyes and looked blankly at her hands as she tried to will things better.

      "..." Impmon regarded Sera, and then sighed.  "I knew it...  I knew I should have let Diaboromon kill me...  I'm totally screwing up your life.  I'm screwing up everything.  You need someone to help you with your problems... someone who isn't a murderer like me."

      Impmon whirled to point a claw at Sera.  "And if you say that's your fault, too, I'll bite my tongue off."

      "... You're not!" Sera couldn't help but cry out, in spite of her earlier resolve to be quiet.  "No you're not!"  She lunged suddenly to hug him tightly, as if afraid he would run away.  "You're the only thing right in my life...!  You're the only one who cares...  I'm scared to death of screwing this up... like I have with my parents... so just please... don't... don't..."  She broke off with a sob, her body trembling violently.

      "Yes I am," Impmon replied.  He glanced at Sera, his expression thoughtful.  "You're like this because of me, aren't you?  It's my fault that you think that way about yourself.  You just won't stop.  It's not like me, because I killed people and I know it.  No one had to tell me that.  But for you... someone told you this crap and you believe it.  It's because of me.  I'm making it worse."

      "... No I'm not...," Sera voice shook as badly as the rest of her, her cheeks stained with tears.  "I'm screwed up... I skate into traffic and hope I get hit... I chase away any friends I get because of how I act... because they're worse off than me... I attract perverts who try to... to..."  She swallowed thickly, fighting off another sob.  "... My... my parents never want to be with me... and I can only make them happy... if I... I just ignore how I feel... and do whatever m-mom wants... and... I just keep messing up... so she y-yells..."  She practically bit her tongue as she realized exactly what she let slip.  She grimaced, as she didn't want to badmouth anyone or complain anymore.

      "... That's it...," Impmon's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him.  "... It's them... it's your parents... they abused you..."

      "... N-no... no they don't...," Sera protested weakly in denial.  "... They care... they do... they just... they work so hard... so I have nice things... and... I can't ever understand... that they do it... because they care... they never hit me... or tried to hurt me... just punish me... whenever I'm wrong..."

      "Yes they do," Impmon snapped.  "They're never home, even I know that.  They neglect you! You're being abused!  It all makes sense now!  All that crap you said is nothing more than excuses they make up to try and cover up the fact that they're never there for you!"

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes, at a lack for anything to say.  Impmon's words rung true, as they were what she herself had thought from time to time.  That was why she tried to never think of it, and just tried to ignore the problem.

      Just like her parents ignored her.

      "It's all their fault!" Impmon whispered, a sudden rage filling him.  They were the reason why Sera always blamed herself; that had to be the answer.  However, that brought about new questions.  What would he do about it?

      "... They're nice... they really are... and try to spend time with me... but work keeps them away... and... I could go with them... if I wasn't so..." Sera trailed off, not wanting to say bad things about herself, as that was the entire problem in the first place.  "... They do it... for me... they told me that... my mom... she tries to get me more involved... with her life... and dad too..."  She shook her head slightly.  "... I didn't mean for it to seem... like they hate me... and try to... abuse me... because of that..."

      "That's a lie," Impmon snorted.  "If they were trying, I would have seen them once and a while.  Either that's another excuse or they're not trying hard enough."

      "... They were on business trips...," Sera weakly protested.

      "Why didn't they ever call then?" Impmon demanded.  "And why did they hang up while you were talking when they DID call?"

      "..."  Sera couldn't answer, as there was no good answer to Impmon's question.

      "It all makes sense now!" Impmon threw his arms up, laughing.  "How can you think good about yourself when your own parents talk crap like that?"

      "..." Sera didn't respond as she wondered the same thing.  What Impmon was saying made sense, but it still hurt to think that her parents would care so little about her.

      "That must be why they're always throwing you at Ai and Mako-chan.  I bet they're just giving you busywork!" Impmon fumed.

      Sera sighed softly, at a loss for anything to say.  What Impmon said made perfect sense.  After all, it wasn't as if her parents couldn't afford to hire a babysitter to watch the twins instead of her.

      "Of all the NERVE!" Impmon muttered darkly, then kicked at the couch.  "What the heck is up wit' dat!?"

      Almost immediately Sera knew the reason why, but she didn't want to believe it.  She couldn't believe it.  If it wasn't her fault that they didn't want to spend time with her, then it was because they hated being around her.  She tried not to think of it, but couldn't help but wonder when the last time was that her parents had told her that they loved her.  A horrible ill feeling welled up in her chest as not one instance came to mind.  They were always so busy that the closest they ever came was just agreeing with her whenever she said it to them.

      "Well, whatever," Impmon snorted, and then looked up at Sera.  "I dun deserve you... I know dat... and everyone does.  But I love you... and I don't think yer any of that bad stuff.  Besides... dis means I have you all to myself."

      "..."  Tears came again as Sera looked at Impmon, those three little words affecting her more than she would have ever thought.  He had told her that he loved her once before, but she was too tired at the time to really realize it and react.  Now he said it again, and without prompting.  That fact alone affected her in ways that she could never hope to describe.  "... Impmon... I love you too..."  She wiped away the tears from her eyes and smiled at her partner.  "Thank you so much..."  She then reached over and hugged him tightly.

      Impmon returned the hug, purring softly.  "I really don't deserve it, you know."

      "You do," Sera mumbled softly into Impmon's ear.  "Without you... I'd be alone.  But I have you... and you love me... I can't tell you how happy you make me..."

      "Mrrr," Impmon flushed.  "... I know of one way..."

      Sera blushed deeply as she realized what Impmon meant.  She nodded, smiling, and then leaned in to kiss him tenderly.

**_*~*_**

      "You shouldn't use that card as battle support."

      "Really?  Why not?" Takato blinked at Tsuyosa.

      "It won't do anything," Tsuyosa replied as he tapped the card.  "It doesn't have any effects.  It'd be just a wasted turn and a wasted card."

      "Well... I needed to clear up some space in my deck to get some better cards," Takato sweatdropped.

      "I guess that works... but you could've used it to give you more evolution points," Tsuyosa sat back.  "So you can go to the next level."

      "Huh?  How?" Takato blinked.

      "That's a Tyrannomon card," Tsuyosa replied.  "It's worth a lot of evolution points."

      "But I don't have anything to evolve in my deck," Takato sighed.

      "... Then you're right... it'd be best to use the card and at least get rid of it, so you can draw better cards," Tsuyosa leaned back.  "It won't do anything to hurt you."

      "Right," Takato nodded and smiled.

      "Hmmm," Tsuyosa scuffled through his cards, and then tilted his head.  "I should do the same..."  He grinned cutely as he put down a Birdramon card.  "Won't do much good but at least I'll get my attack in first AND clear up some space!"

      "Gah!  That knocked me down to 10 hit points!" Takato boggled.

      "Whoops," Tsuyosa blinked.  "I thought you were going to use your defense move and knock my super attack to zero!"

      "..."  Takato slumped his head forward.  "I forgot...," he muttered.

      "..." Tsuyosa face-faulted.  "... Sorry..."

      "... It's okay," Takato shook his head then smiled at Tsuyosa.  "You're just better at this than I am."

      "I've had plenty of time to practice," Tsuyosa replied.  "But you've had actual experiences... and I don't think real opponents follow rules like this so I guess it's a moot point."

      "Well I guess that's true...," Takato muttered.  "But still, I think with your skills and ChibiBa's strength, you two are hard to take down!" he smiled excitedly.

      "Um," Tsuyosa flushed lightly at the compliment.  "Well..."

      "It's true!" Takato smiled.

      "..." Tsuyosa's cheeks pinked a little more.

      Takato grinned then drew a card.  He smiled widely at what he got and threw it down.  "Yes!  Speed-evolve!  Agumon evolves to Greymon and recovers all his hit points!" he beamed.

      "Wow," Tsuyosa stared.  "Good job!"

      "Thanks!" Takato smiled happily.

      Tsuyosa looked at his cards, sticking his tongue out slightly as he considered what to do with his current deck.

      Tsuyosa suddenly opened his eyes, then giggled and put down a card.  "I have enough evolution points, too!" he grinned.  "Say hello to LADY DEVIMON!"  He paused, then made a face.  "... Something about that is mildly ironic and disturbing."

      "Ah!  No!" Takato cried as he fell over backwards.  "You wiped me out!"

      Tsuyosa blinked and leaned over to look down at Takato, blinking.  "Are you okay?"

      Takato sat back up quickly and nodded.  "Yeah," he smiled in an assuring manner at Tsuyosa.  "That was a great move, Tsu!"

      Tsuyosa rubbed the back of his head.  "Thanks..."

      Takato smiled then started picking up his cards.  Once he had them in a semi-neat pile, he glanced at Tsuyosa.  "..."  An idea suddenly crossed Takato's mind as he started to blush.  "... Hey... Tsu...  What's say we... skip having a rematch...?" he suggested, his voice catching slightly.

      Tsuyosa picked up his own cards then blinked.  "Oh... okay... what else did you have in mind?"

      Shyly, Takato scooted closer to Tsuyosa and wrapped his arm around the other boy's shoulder.  "Well...," Takato muttered as he pulled Tsuyosa closer.  "I... I thought..."

      Tsuyosa blushed brightly as he leaned closer to Takato, smiling timidly.


	48. Emotional Train Ride YaoiFree

Authors' Notes: Sorry for taking so very long. x.x; We're really off schedule, huh?  Hopefully this chapter will be with the wait.  It's filled with a lot of angst so get tissues ready.

      As always, we have censored and uncensored.  This version is censored, so if you wanted the uncensored... that's the other one. ^_^

      We hope you enjoy!

      Oh, and those of you that want to become our betareaders, please leave your e-mail so we can try and make that happen.  Frozen Phoenix please contact us so we can add you to our betareaders.  We need your email if we're to send you the chapter! XD;

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 33: Emotional Train Ride_**

****

****

**_*~*_**

      "Food for Gu-il-mon!  Food, food, food for GU-IL-MON!"

      "... He... eats a lot, doesn't he?" Black Tailmon sweatdropped as she watched the Tamers' digimon eat.

      The digimon and their Tamers sat at a large red blanket, which was covered from one end to the other with food, save for where the Tamers and their digimon were.

      "Well...  He hasn't eaten in a while," Takato sweatdropped.

      "FOOOOOD!" Guilmon sang as he grabbed a bunch of cookies and shoved them in to his mouth.  "Mmm!"

      "Thank you for the meal," Renamon said, calmly, as she munched on an apple and some onigiri.

      "Yeah, thanks," Terriermon said through a large mouthful of curry.

      "GRRRRR!" Impmon and ChibiBa glared at each other, fighting over a large hunk of roasted meat with a thick bone through it.  Each had an end of the meat, their jaws firmly clamped down on the bone where it stuck out, growling at each other.

      Pandamon let out a tiny cough in reply as he snuggled the large scarf around his throat, which kept the icepacks firmly in place as they tended to his sore throat.

      Opossomon glared daggers at Impmon, quietly seething at the sight of the cute purple digimon.  The only reason why Opossomon hadn't attacked Impmon the moment he saw him was because Black Tailmon reminded him that he looked very uncute when he's vengeful.

      Black Tailmon and Opossomon sat on either end of Pandamon, keeping an eye on their wounded boss, as Sheepmon carried a tray on his back with some glasses of milk and a plate of cookies.

      Pandamon coughed suddenly, which sounded like a gurgle.  Black Tailmon blinked, and then regarded Takato.

      "He asks how 'Tsu-chan' is," she said.

      Ruki snorted as she glanced back at Tsuyosa, who curled up on the blanket with his back to them.  He rested a few feet behind them, his head on a pillow.

      "Still unconscious...," Ruki muttered.  "That boy's too fragile."

      "Well he was just choked by an Ultimate level digimon you know," Takato commented, frowning, then glanced at Tsuyosa.

      "And then he gets dropped and hits his head, getting knocked unconscious," Ruki replied. "He's like a glass doll!"

      "That's not really a fair thing to say, Ruki," Jenrya shook his head.  "You know Tsuyosa can't help being sick."

      "Maybe, but it was a bad idea to bring him," Ruki shook her head.  "This place is dangerous... and even more dangerous for someone as weak as him.  He could die."

      "But...  Tsu's got ChibiBa to protect him," Takato protested, torn between concern and standing up for Tsuyosa.  "So... he shouldn't be in too much danger..."

      "That's another thing!" Ruki glanced at ChibiBa, scowling.  "He's a loose cannon.  He only cares about Tsuyosa...  I doubt he even cares if the Digital World's destroyed.  He'd destroy anything to 'protect Tsu'.  Probably even us!"

      "..." Takato couldn't think of how to answer that as he remembered all too well what it was like being on the receiving end of ChibiBa's wrath.

      ChibiBa was apparently ignoring the Tamers as he munched, still fighting Impmon over the food.

      "... But he did promise Tsuyosa to not hurt anyone...," Jenrya pointed out quietly.

      "It was a mistake to bring them," Ruki grunted, crossing her arms.  "Can you IMAGINE what would happen if Tsuyosa died?  ChibiBa'd probably go on a psychopathic murdering spree!"

      "... But... ChibiBa wouldn't let that happen...," Takato said softly.  "And neither would we..."

      "Look," Ruki massaged her forehead.  "Look at him!  He's practically useless!  He's either slowing us down or getting knocked unconscious!  Do you really want to endanger us and him!?"

      "... No...," Takato muttered as he looked back at Tsuyosa.  "... But..."

      "..."  Jenrya sighed.  "... I don't agree that Tsuyosa's useless, but you do have a point there, Ruki."

      "Remember what happened the LAST TIME?" Ruki fixed them with a pointed gaze.

      Takato and Jenrya both flinched as they did indeed remember what happened the last time they went to the Digital World all too well.

      Slowly, Tsuyosa glanced over his shoulder at the group.  He didn't say anything as he listened, his expression hurt.  "..."

      "Do we really want something like that to happen again?" Ruki arched an eyebrow.

      Tsuyosa closed his eyes, and then slowly stood up.  He moved very quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself, as he snuck away from the others.

      "... Of course not," Jenrya sighed as he shook his head.

      "... No...," Takato muttered.  "... But... it just doesn't seem right..."

      Pandamon, Black Tailmon, and Opossomon looked at each other, though they didn't get involved.

      Slowly, Tsuyosa walked further and further away from the Tamers, staring at the ground as he went while lost in his own thoughts.  He knew the Tamers were right; Ruki was simply saying what he felt inside all along.  He wasn't one of them; he was just a setback.

      ChibiBa was obviously valuable to the team but Tsuyosa offset his value.  They were almost completely opposite.  ChibiBa being a great help while Tsuyosa just held everyone back.  However, no one but Ruki had the courage to say so.  Even worse, Ruki only said it when she thought he wasn't listening.  They probably thought he'd have an attack or a seizure if they told him the truth.

      "... Um...," Sera spoke up timidly.  "... I know I'm just the newbie Tamer, but shouldn't you all ASK Tsu what HE thinks first before making any decisions?"

      "He's unconscious," Ruki grunted.  "How can we?"

      Sera glanced over to where Tsuyosa had been, and then blinked.  "... Not anymore," she commented as she pointed at the vacant space where the formerly unconscious Tamer had been.  "He's gone."

      "..." Ruki blinked, then sighed and touched her forehead as if she had a headache.  "He was awake and heard us, didn't he?"

      "... Looks that way," Jenrya sighed.

      "I'll go find him," Takato said as he stood up.

      "... I was just worried about him...," Ruki grumbled as her cheek twitched slightly.  Renamon glanced over at her Tamer, her expression soft.

      "... We know, Ruki," Jenrya said gently.

      Takato nodded in agreement before he hurried to look for Tsuyosa.  He hoped the other Tamer hadn't done something foolish like head back for the Real World without the rest of them.

      Tsuyosa didn't have a chance to get very far as he ended up coming to a stop by a large rock formation a little ways away from the circus.  He sat on a small stone, staring up at the moon quietly.

      Tsuyosa sighed heavily as he stared at the moon.  "..."

      He didn't know what to do.  He didn't know if he should go to the Real World and leave ChibiBa or stay and continue to weigh the group down.  Either way, he knew he was just bothering them.  Even if they didn't want to admit it, he knew it.

      "Tsu!" Takato called as he left the tent.  He didn't have to look around for long before he spotted Tsuyosa.  "Tsu!"  Takato then quickly darted over to the other boy.

      "..." Tsuyosa didn't respond as he stared at the moon, trying to get his emotions under control.  He was mildly confused by the fact that there was even a moon at all; ChibiBa had said once they didn't have moons in the Digital World, trying to excuse his confusion over a moon in the Real World.  ChibiBa obviously wouldn't lie about such a thing so Tsuyosa figured it must have been a result of Reapermon.  Either way, he was soothed by it.

      He wasn't too surprised by the fact that Takato came after him and no one else; Takato cared, he knew that.  Unfortunately, he also knew that his presence worried Takato most of all.

      "Tsu?" Takato repeated as he approached Tsuyosa, concern evident in his voice.

      "... Yes?"  Tsuyosa refused to look at Takato.  He didn't want to see Takato's eyes; if he saw any pity there, he didn't know what he'd do.

      "..."  Takato paused as he tried to figure out what to say.  He fumbled for what to say as he stood directly behind Tsuyosa.  He wanted to say something, anything, to convince Tsuyosa that Ruki was wrong and that they needed him to stay.  "... I'm sorry...," Takato muttered, at a loss for what else that could be said.

      "... Why?" Tsuyosa closed his eyes.  "It's the truth.  I'm just slowing you all down."

      "... No, you're not," Takato said firmly.  "If it wasn't for you and ChibiBa... it might have been too late for us to evolve and save Pandamon."

      "..." Tsuyosa opened his eyes again.  "... I'm slow and sick.  It's like those wildlife shows...  I'm the one all the predators will go after first.  Survival of the fittest..."

      "... Tsu...," Takato gently placed his hand on Tsuyosa's shoulder.  "This ISN'T one of those wildlife shows...  You're important to the team.  The only reason we were talking about it in there was because we were worried about you..."

      "... It'd probably be best if you left me here or sent me back to the Real World," Tsuyosa sighed.  "So you won't HAVE to worry about me."

      "Tsu...," Takato whispered softly.  Impulsively, he wrapped his arms around Tsuyosa from behind, and hugged him comfortingly.  "... Do you really want to go back...?"  Takato fumbled as he tried to explain his feelings.  "I... I mean...  I don't want... what we said to make you feel like you have to..."

      "..." Tsuyosa leaned back in to Takato, shaking.  "No... no, I don't want to go back... but... but I don't want you all to think I'm useless or... or a burden..."  It was the truth; he didn't want to go back.  Maybe he was being selfish, but he wanted to stay.  However, he couldn't help but feel that his desire to stay would end up hurting Takato and the others.

      "... We don't think you're useless or a burden...," Takato whispered gently.  "... Ruki might seem harsh... but she's really just worried about you...  We all are..."

      "..." Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "... I know... I just... feel... like I'm just making things worse..."

      "... No... you're not, Tsu... I... I'm glad you came with us..."

      "... I'm... glad too... I..."

      "... Don't leave... if you don't want to..."

      "... I don't want to leave, Takato..." Tsuyosa murmured.

      "... I don't want you to, either...," Takato mumbled.

      "TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

      Tsuyosa's eyes opened wide just as a small black Mega tackled him, knocking all three of them off their feet to the ground.  Takato yelped as he ended up being a landing pad for both Tsuyosa and ChibiBa.

      "Tsuuuu!" ChibiBa hiccupped, his breath smelling strongly of roast.  "Where'd you go?  I was WORRIED!"

      "I... I'm okay, ChibiBa," Tsuyosa muttered.

      Takato grunted as he tried to crawl out from under the other boy and his digimon.

      "Well, here's where you are," Ruki walked up slowly, her arms crossed.  "... Wondering where you went."

      Tsuyosa slowly stood up, ChibiBa in his arms, and stared at the ground.  "..."

      "Are you okay, Tsuyosa?" Jenrya asked as he walked alongside Ruki.

      "... ..." Tsuyosa refused to look up as he hugged ChibiBa.  "... Yes."

      Takato sighed in relief and climbed to his feet quickly once Tsuyosa got off of him.  Takato then looked at the other boy before he looked at Ruki and Jenrya.  "... Tsu wants to stay with us...," Takato said quietly.

      ChibiBa blinked, then glanced at Takato.  He made a nasty face and curled up his lips to show off his teeth.  "OF COURSE HE IS!  We're gonna kick Reapermon's Rocky Horror Hieny!"

      "... All right," Ruki nodded, crossing her arms as Renamon stood behind her.

      "... If you're sure you want to," Jenrya nodded slowly, with Terriermon sitting on his shoulders.

      "..." Tsuyosa said nothing as ChibiBa narrowed his eyes.

      "You don't want Tsu here or somethin'?" he growled.

      "ChibiBa... please don't...," Tsuyosa muttered.

      "We want Tsu here, ChibiBa," Takato protested.  "We're just worried about him like you are.  That's all."

      "Oh," ChibiBa blinked, then snorted.  "I can protect him just fine.  It's YOU all I'm worried about!"

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon suddenly landed on the rock near them.

      "Eh?" Tsuyosa blinked, suddenly.

      Black Tailmon tilted her head and crossed her arms.

      "Yer wanted back at the circus.  We're packing up and headin' out," she said.

**_*~*_**

      The jingle of bells pierced the air as a team of eight Moosemon trotted across the plains, decorated up like carousel horses with ribbons, jewels, and flowers.  A long train of beautifully decorated circus wagons trailed behind the team, connected by multicolored chains and ribbons.  Pandamon sat just behind the team on the main wagon, guiding them with bright red reigns.

      Black Tailmon balanced on her large ball, patrolling the wagon train back and forth to make sure everything went smoothly as well as make sure none of the circus digimon got lost.

      Opossomon hovered overhead, drifting lazily along by his balloons at the same pace as the caravan.  He looked around as he floated along, keeping a lookout for any sort of trouble.

      Sheepmon snored and bleated in his sleep as he took a nap in the last car of the wagon train.

      ChibiBa trotted alongside the wagon, carrying a massive bundle of supplies.

      "Why do I hafta do this?" he grunted.

      "You're strong and unknown to Reapermon," Pandamon replied, his voice surprisingly better.  "We need all the help we can get."

      "I wanna hide in the cabin with Tsu!" ChibiBa growled.

      "I'm sure you do... but we need your help," Pandamon retorted.

      "Why does that goggle boy get to ride with Tsu in that cabin!?" ChibiBa demanded, harshly.

      "Because we could only fit two kids and their digimon in each hidden cabin... and Takato simply claimed the one with Tsu-chan in it FIRST!" Pandamon replied.

      "Opportunistic little...," ChibiBa growled.

      "Yes, he is," Pandamon agreed.

      "Nyar, less talk... more work!" Black Tailmon giggled as she rolled past.  "We have a lot of distance to cover before we get to Reapermon's Love Pad."

      "... Reapermon's WHAT!?" ChibiBa's jaw dropped.

      "Love Pad," Pandamon replied.

      "..." ChibiBa's cheek twitched.

**_*~*_**

      Tsuyosa smiled slightly at Takato as they sat together on a large couch.  The cabin itself was arranged much like a cabin in a real train, with two couches facing each other on either side of the walls.  There were no windows, as anyone could look in as well as look out.

      The two Tamers were alone in their cabin because Guilmon was hungrier than anticipated because of ChibiBa's grueling training session, thus he had ran off into the dining cabin and eaten about half of the food before he curled up for a nap there.  Since it would be difficult to move the full digimon without disturbing him from his nap, it was opted that he remain there and recover his energy.

      Takato couldn't help but wonder what sort of grueling training regimen that ChibiBa exposed Guilmon to, and why Guilmon mentioned something about ChibiBa wanting to take his butt.

      Takato shook his head slightly, trying not to worry about his partner, as Guilmon was perfectly safe now that the circus was on their side.  Instead he turned his thoughts to other pressing matters.

      "So...  How are you feeling now?" Takato asked slowly as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "... I mean... after... what happened... with Lady Devimon and..."  He trailed off, fumbling, as he wasn't sure how to phrase his question delicately.

      "... My throat's a bit sore but it's okay," Tsuyosa replied.  "And I have a small bump but that's okay, too... only hurts when I touch it."

      "That's good," Takato smiled slightly then blinked and blushed as he realized how what he said could have been taken badly.  "That you're better I mean, not that it still hurts," he quickly amended.

      "Yeah, I know," Tsuyosa smiled, then shifted in the seat to get comfortable.  "... I hope ChibiBa behaves out there."

      "Yeah, and I hope Guilmon doesn't wake up before we get there and eat all of the food," Takato joked lightly, hiding his concern and worry for what they were about to do.  He let out a soft sigh and leaned back against the seat.

      The two boys sat in companionable silence; the only sounds heard being their soft breathing and the mostly muffled sounds of the wagons moving.

      Takato shifted slightly then grimaced as he felt the case that contained his cards poke his rear from where they were contained in his back pocket.  As he reached back and pulled them out, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

      "Hey, Tsu," he said as he looked at Tsuyosa.  "How about we play a game of Digimon to pass the time?"

      Tsuyosa looked up, and then nodded.  "Okay..."

**_*~*_**

      "At least it's comfortable," Ruki sighed as she leaned back against the wall, Renamon next to her.  "Rather nice for a cell."

      "Sheesh, I bet you'd complain if they booked us in a five-star hotel," Terriermon quipped as he lounged on one of the couches next to Jenrya.

      "This is just one more attempt to keep an eye on us," Ruki muttered.

      "Well, it's either this or we walk along outside the wagon train," Jenrya pointed out.

      "If we walked outside, then Reapermon's men might see us," Renamon added.

      "... Yeah, I know," Ruki grunted.  "But it still irritates me to be locked in here."

      "It irritates you when the sun rises," Terriermon quipped.

      "Terriermon," Jenrya scolded.

      "Heh," Ruki quirked a smirk.  Renamon chuckled quietly.

      "Now all we have to do is wait," Renamon looked at Ruki.  "... For once, the element of surprise is on our side."

      "Let's hope it stays that way," Ruki grunted.  "Pandamon better not pull anything."

      "I don't see why he would," Jenrya commented.  "I mean... he did try to protect us from Reapermon's followers."

      "... I know," Ruki shook her head.  "But why did he do that?"

      "Maybe he doesn't like perverts?" Terriermon suggested half-jokingly.

      "But I thought he was one," Ruki smirked, slightly.

      "Ruki!" Renamon scolded, though in a joking manner as she grinned.

      "Wow...  First Renamon made a joke, and now Ruki," Terriermon said, awed, then chuckled slightly.  "Either you two're developing a sense of humor or you're pod people."

      "Sorry, just came out," Ruki smirked again.  "I'll try harder next time."

      "I dunno, I think it's good you're both loosening up a little," Jenrya smirked.

      "Bah," Ruki snorted as she chuckled.

**_*~*_**

      "You know... despite the bad stuff that's happened... I'm having fun so far."

      "Yup," Impmon said as he leaned against Sera, using her side as a pillow as he stretched out.

      Sera smiled at Impmon, noticing how cute he looked, then reached out to rub his tummy.  "This is like a dream come true," she muttered quietly, then smirked.  "Despite how cliché that sounds."

      Impmon stretched out and squirmed a bit, snickering.  "... Yeah... even with me getting wet, frozen, torn up, and crushed!"

      "Yeah," Sera smirked as she continued rubbing, although privately she didn't like being reminded of how Impmon was nearly killed.  "But the good parts more than make up for it, right?"  She tilted her head slightly, almost curiously as she looked down at Impmon.

      "Yup," Impmon repeated, grinning up at her.  He then tilted his head.  "The food made all the difference!" he said, teasingly.

      "Oh, just the food made it worthwhile?" Sera asked, obviously pretending to sound hurt.  "What does that make me then?"

      "Heeey, nothing in this word can compare to food!" Impmon smirked, and then poked Sera in the side.  "... Well, AAAALMOST nothing!"

      "Oh?" Sera giggled lightly, then acted as if she had no idea what Impmon was talking about.  "What could possibly compare?"

      "You know," Impmon stuck his tongue out in response. 

      "Maaaaybe," Sera giggled and stuck out her tongue in retaliation as she traced the smiley face on Impmon's stomach.

      "EEE!  That TICKLES!" Impmon squeaked as he squirmed.

      "Oh, really?"  Sera smirked wickedly as she giggled and ran her fingers along Impmon's smiley face in a tickling manner.  Impmon squealed and squirmed again, trying to get away from Sera's tickling.

      Sera would have none of that, however, as she reached out with both hands to keep Impmon in place as she continued to tickle him.  Impmon squealed again as he struggled, laughing so hard his eyes started to water.

      "Had enough?" Sera smirked as she continued tickling him.

      "YES!" Impmon gasped.

      "Oh, okay," Sera giggled as she ran her fingers tickling along Impmon's stomach one last time before she let him go.

      Impmon gasped for air as he closed his eyes, breathless.  Sera giggled lightly, smiling, as she watched her partner as he recovered.

      "You're mean," Impmon sulked.

      "I couldn't resist," Sera smiled playfully.  "You're just so cute!"

      "BAH!" Impmon snorted.

      "Just like that," Sera smirked.

      "I'm cool, not cute," Impmon crossed his arms.

      "What?  You can't be both?"  Sera smiled and poked Impmon's nose lightly.

      "I'm not cute," Impmon repeated, sulkily.

      Sera merely giggled in response.

      "Well, I'm NOT," Impmon muttered.

      "I'm guessing you won't give up protesting until I agree, right?"

      "Right."

      "Oh, okay then."

      "... Yeah, and don't you forget it!" Impmon smirked, though he was unsure if he actually won.

      "I won't," Sera giggled.

      "... Okay then!" Impmon blinked and tapped his chin.

      Sera hummed thoughtfully to herself as she looked at Impmon for a few moments, before looking somewhat curious.  "Hey... Impmon?" she asked suddenly as she tilted her head slightly.

      "... What?" Impmon blinked.

      "What's it like... to evolve with someone?" Sera said slowly, not exactly sure how to phrase it, as she was unfamiliar with what terminology to use.

      "Dunno, never biomerged before," Impmon shrugged.

      "Oh," Sera blinked.  She paused for a few moments, a thoughtful look on her face.

      "... Whut?" Impmon eyed Sera, suddenly very wary.

      "What would happen if we were to biomerge?" Sera blinked at Impmon, tilting her head slightly again.

      "... Don't even go there, toots," Impmon retorted.

      "Why?" Sera blinked again.

      "For one, there's no REASON to.  I can go Mega on my own," Impmon replied.  "Goggle boy and the others biomerge with their digimon because they can't go Mega without it.  ... Well, except for Guilmon... but when he did it, he was outta control."

      "Oh."  Sera wasn't sure whether or not to ask about Guilmon's evolution, but decided it wasn't really important.  "But how can you evolve to Mega without any help anyway?"

      "I just do," Impmon shrugged, and then smirked.  "I'm just that strong and cool, I guess!"

      "And I have nothing to do with that?"  Sera tilted her head slightly, an odd expression on her face.  "Huh."

      Impmon shrugged.

      Sera then smiled crookedly.  "Well, I guess someone as cute as you deserves to be the strongest of all," she teased.

      "You bet!" Impmon smirked.

      Sera suddenly burst out giggling.

      "... What?" Impmon blinked.

      Sera forced down her mirth as much as she could, but still she shook slightly with barely repressed laughter.  "... Nothing," she said 'innocently'.

      "... Yer weird sometimes, Sera," Impmon eyed her.

      "... You completely missed what I said didn't you?" Sera asked as she tried not to laugh.

      "... About what?" Impmon stared.

      "Well...  You just agreed with me when I said you were cute," Sera smirked victoriously.

      "What?" Impmon blinked, then yelped and flailed.  "ACK!  DAMN IT!  KNOCK IT OFF WITH THAT CUTE CRAP ALREADY!"

      Sera couldn't help but burst out giggling again at Impmon's reaction.

      Impmon's cheek twitched and he crossed his arms to sulk.  "HURMPH!"

      Sera's laughter quickly died down as she noticed how irritable Impmon was.  It was obvious that he wasn't just pretending or pouting; he was angry.

      "... Impmon?" Sera blinked, slightly alarmed.

      "... ..."  Impmon glowered angrily and refused to look at Sera.  "What."

      "..."  Sera blinked slowly, confused as to why Impmon was so upset.  "... Why are you so angry at being called cute?"  She wondered if it was a 'guy thing', but quickly dismissed that thought, as he was far too upset for that to be the only reason.

      "... 'Cuz I don't like being insulted," Impmon replied, his cheek twitching slightly.

      "Insulted?" Sera blinked, surprised.  "I wasn't insulting you.  I was just teasing you a little like we've been doing."

      "Oh.  Right.  'Teasing'.  Basically everyone making fun of me."  Impmon scowled.  No one ever cared how he felt.  He took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm down.  "Bein' called cute is insulting."

      "..."  Sera was stunned momentarily.  "But... I wasn't making fun of you, Impmon!" she protested strongly, then lowered her voice slightly.  "I was just joking around, like you were doing.  I mean... before you got upset...  I didn't realize that you weren't pretending..."  She shook her head slightly.  "I just don't see why you don't like being called cute."

      "HOW is it joking around when you're the only one laughing!?" Impmon snapped.  "I told you to stop and you wouldn't!  NO ONE ever stops!  No one ever listens to me!"

      "..."  Sera went absolutely silent, shocked, as Impmon's words sunk in.  All those times that they teased each other, she now realized that not once when she called him cute did he give any sort of sign that he was just pretending to be upset.  She had assumed it because she didn't really think one little word could have such an affect on anyone.  She tried to speak, but words failed her.

      "Feh, why should anyone listen to me anyway?" Impmon muttered to himself.  "It's not like my feelings are important." he thought, wryly.

      "... Impmon... I..."  Sera tried desperately to think of what to say.

      "Bein' called cute is insulting.  I ain't a stuffed animal or a pansy ass," Impmon muttered.  "And that's exactly what cute means."

      "... Impmon... I... I don't think you're either of those things," Sera protested as she shook her head, finally able to think again.  "That's not what I mean when I call you cute...!  Not at all!"

      "That's what cute means," Impmon repeated.  "You call stuffed animals cute.  You call Culumon cute.  You don't call ME cute."

      "No it doesn't," Sera said firmly.  "At least not when I say it to you.  Cute to me means I like looking at you and enjoy everything you do."

      "..."  Impmon's cheek twitched visibly.  "Cute things can't do anything.  They're just there to be ogled and stared at.  Cute things are pathetic and get beaten up all the time."

      "But you're cute and you can do a lot, and are very strong."  Sera then grimaced as she realized how badly what she said could be taken.  "That didn't come out right...," she muttered then tried to quickly explain her thoughts before Impmon got the wrong idea.  "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think of you as a stuffed animal or a doll...  You're a lot more than that."

      "I'm not cute," Impmon grunted.  "And I know I'm much more than a stuffed animal or a doll.  That's why I'm not cute!"

      "Cute can mean a lot of things...  Like handsome, gorgeous, and sexy."  A blush crept across Sera's cheeks.  "At least that's how I mean it.  I never call you cute to insult you..."

      "Then why not say handsome, gorgeous, or sexy?" Impmon crossed his arms.  "Why say 'cute'?"

      "Because cute is easier to say.  Because you're all that... and more."  Sera's blush darkened.

      Impmon twitched visibly, his expression darkening drastically as his temper flared up.  He strongly fought his desire to snap that apparently his feelings on the matter were being compromised for what 'was easier' but knew Sera didn't really mean it like that.

      Sera couldn't help but notice how quickly Impmon's mood was spiraling downwards and grimaced.  "Good job.  You've just screwed up again," she thought bitterly to herself.

      "Sorry...," she said aloud, quietly, as she looked away from Impmon, not wanting to see how upset he was.  "I'll stop calling you that...  I didn't realize you hated it so much...  I just thought..."  She trailed off and shook her head a bit, deciding to stop before she accidentally said something wrong again.

      "..."  Impmon sighed, forcing himself to relax.  "Cute is an insult meant to hurt.  Terriermon uses it all the time, purposely trying to hurt me.  I don't like being called cute."

      "..."  Sera debated what to say or if she should even say anything, considering how every time she tried to help she seemed to screw things up.  She sighed quietly.  "... I'm sorry... I didn't know...," she repeated quietly.  "Usually cute is used as a complement... I mean... I think of myself as cute..."  She paused as she felt she was being too defensive and neglecting Impmon's feelings.  She looked at him, trying not to show how she was feeling.  "I never meant for it to hurt you, Impmon...  I never want to hurt you..."

      "... I know you didn't," Impmon felt bad that Sera was upset but he just didn't want to be called cute.  Why couldn't they both be happy?

      Sera looked at her partner for a moment, then leaned over and pulled Impmon in her arms, hugging him close.  "Impmon...," she mumbled softly into his ear as she closed her eyes, at a loss for anything else to say.

      Impmon closed his eyes and sighed. He knew there was no point in arguing; no one would ever stop.  Everyone would always pick on him.  He deserved it, anyway.  "... Eh.  It doesn't matter anyway."

      "... What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Sera asked as she leaned back slightly so she could look at Impmon while still holding him.

      "Because it doesn't," Impmon replied, forcing his tone to be monotone as he struggled to bury this pain with the others.  "No one will ever stop."

      "... I'll stop... I said I would," Sera said quietly.  "How you feel matters to me... a lot... Impmon..."

      "..."  Impmon didn't want to discuss it anymore.  He knew that even if Sera stopped, he always had Terriermon to fill the void.  Being tormented was one of life's little punishments and he would have to get used to it.  "... Anyway..."

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes, feeling like she was the worst Tamer who ever lived.  She hugged Impmon closely again, unable to look at him because of how ashamed she felt, but also wanting to make him feel better at the same time.  "... Impmon... I love you...  You mean everything to me...  I'm sorry for being so stupid...  I'll stop...  I really will...  I didn't mean to break my promise...  I'm sorry..."

      "..."  Impmon closed his eyes.  He knew the entire argument was just one more piece of evidence that he was hurting Sera and should never have gotten involved in her life.  It was just one more pain to lock away because he was too selfish to just leave.  "I know...  I know.  You're not stupid."

      Sera closed her eyes as they grew uncomfortably moist.  She desperately wanted to heal all the pain in Impmon's heart, but all she seemed to do was just make it worse and never better.  "... Yes I am," she muttered, forcing her voice to remain level, and trying to keep from crying despite the tears in her eyes.  "If I wasn't stupid I wouldn't keep hurting you like this..."

      Impmon flinched and covered his ears, just not wanting to hear Sera insult herself anymore.  Apparently that happened every time he tried to talk about his feelings in depth with her.  He vowed never to do it again.  "You aren't!"

      "..."  Sera blinked her eyes open as she noticed his motion.  Part of her felt like screaming in frustration; everything she did seemed to turn out wrong.  "... Why does this have to be so hard?" she asked aloud before she could stop herself.  She covered her eyes with one hand, desperately trying not to cry, and berating herself mentally.

      "... It doesn't have to be," Impmon muttered.

      "..."  Sera went quiet for a moment, trying to get her emotions under control.  "... Impmon... please... tell me...  How can I help you be happy... and stop hurting so much...?"

      "I am happy," Impmon replied.  "I'm not hurting."

      "..."  Sera couldn't respond, as she knew that it was a lie.  "... Like Pandamon?" she finally asked, her voice a quiet whisper.

      "I'm happy," Impmon repeated.  "It doesn't matter what kind of happiness.  It's not about that.  It's about... forgiveness."

      "... What?" Sera blinked slowly.

      "I can't... WON'T forgive myself," Impmon replied.

      "... Why not?" Sera felt a lump form in her throat.

      "Because I don't deserve it," Impmon replied.

      "... Impmon...," Sera breathed, somehow managing to keep her voice level.  A tear trickled down Sera's cheek against her will.  "You do...  You do!  You're wonderful, and no matter what's happened in the past... you've paid for it... you've been forgiven...!"

      Impmon smiled sadly at Sera.  "No I haven't.  I haven't been forgiven by anyone except Juri."

      "... The others never forgave you...?" Sera asked, surprised, as she had thought the other Tamers and their digimon were on good terms with Impmon.  Everyone except for Terriermon that is, but even he didn't seem to be holding a grudge, just a rivalry of sorts.

      "No," Impmon shook his head.  "None of them ever said they forgave me.  They just keep their distance from me... and from the subject."

      "... That doesn't mean you don't deserve forgiveness...," Sera said weakly as she wiped away all trace of her tears before leaning back so that she could look at Impmon.  "... I... I don't know why they didn't say it... but... maybe... maybe they thought Juri forgiveness was all that was needed...?"  She knew she was just grasping at straws, as she really didn't know the others that well at all, but she didn't want to believe that they were so cruel on purpose.

      Impmon simply chuckled dryly.  "Either way... it doesn't matter.  There's only one person who could change my mind about whether I deserve forgiveness or not... and he's dead.  By my own claws."  Impmon shrugged.  "It's a lost cause, toots."

      "..." Sera slipped a hand up to gently cup Impmon's cheek, rubbing him there a little with her thumb.  "... Impmon... I'm sure... that he'd forgive you too...  I mean... if his Tamer forgave you... then I'm sure that means he would have too..."  She sighed softly.  "It's not a lost cause... and neither are you..."

      "No one knows," Impmon shook his head.  "Not you, not me, not even Juri.  Doesn't mean a thing... so there's no point in talkin' about it."

      "... Maybe... when Primary Village is fixed... and Leomon's reborn... you can ask him...?" Sera suggested, uncertain.

      "If he'll even bother," Impmon replied.  "Until then, I ain't forgivin' myself... and no one else should, either."

      "... I know I can't change your mind... but... please... remember... I want you to be happy... TRUELY happy... and I'll do anything so you can be... even if you can't forgive yourself...," she whispered tenderly, fumbling over words.  "I love you."  With that she leaned in to kiss Impmon softly before he could respond.

      Impmon blinked and blushed at the kiss, then shrugged.  "... I know that..."  He didn't want to tell Sera that there wasn't anything she could do.  It just seemed that every time he tried to tell her how he felt, she'd start insulting herself.

      Impmon sighed.  At least she wasn't going to call him cute.  He still remembered the horrible experience he had at the hooves of that horse Deva.  He could remember every blow and humiliating second that he suffered.  He wasn't cute.  He couldn't afford to be cute; cute meant you were weak.  Weakness lead to pain.  No, Impmon couldn't be cute.

      Sera looked at Impmon in silence for a few moments, knowing that she should say or do something more for him, but completely at a loss as to what.  "... I'm sorry that I'm not much help," she sighed softly as she started to rub his back, trying to be comforting even if her words weren't.

      "... What do you mean?" Impmon hoped she wouldn't start insulting herself again.  He wouldn't be able to take it if she did.

      Sera blinked, as she had thought it was obvious, then shook her head.  "... I mean... well... for one thing... I'm just not a very good Tamer...," she sighed again.

      Impmon had enough.

      "Oh for the love of the Matrix, **STOP IT!**" he snarled.  He whirled about to grab her shoulders.  "**STOP IT, STOP IT, _STOP IT!!!_**"

      Sera couldn't help but yelp as her eyes widened, completely caught off-guard by Impmon's outburst.

      "WHY DO YOU DO THAT?!" Impmon sputtered.  "WHY!?  WHY do you make EVERYTHING out to be your fault or INSULT yourself!?  WHY!?"

      Impmon waved his claws.

      "Wait!  Don't answer that!  I DON'T CARE!" he snarled.  "STOP IT!  STOP IT!  It's not your fault!  NONE of this is your fault!  It's MY fault that I KILLED PEOPLE!  It's MY fault that I'm guilty!  It's MY fault that you can't help me!  IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!  WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING IT IS?!"

      Sera flinched at Impmon's screaming.  She hadn't expected him to get so angry, especially because of why he was angry.  She looked down before she closed her eyes, silent for a few more moments.  "... Because it usually is my fault...," she admitted quietly once she was able to speak again.  "... Whenever someone I care for is upset... it's my fault..."

      "IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!" Impmon screamed, tugging on his ears.  "WHO THE HELL SAID IT WAS?!"

      Sera flinched again and resisted the urge to cover her ears or curl into a fetal position and cry.  She was used to being screamed at, even if she didn't expect it.  "... I..."  She went silent again for a moment.  "... No one... but... usually it is... for some reason or another... so I just... thought it was again...," she whispered quietly.  "... My..." She paused again for a moment. "... They get angry... and scream at me... and usually apologizing helps... or they just leave..."

      "They? Who's they?!" Impmon demanded, angrily.  "It isn't your fault!  Whoever made you think that is full of crap and I have half a mind to go beat them within an inch of their lives!"

      "..."  Sera went silent again, because she didn't want to tell Impmon exactly who yelled at her the most.  "... They... they don't mean it...," she protested weakly.  "... It's because I'm selfish... and childish...  I can only deal with children... or those I don't care about... without screwing up..."  She lowered her voice, speaking quietly, unthinkingly.  "... That's why I'm always alone..."

      "..." Impmon twitched violently.  "Now you listen to me, and listen good.  You are not selfish... you are not childish... you can deal with a lot more than just children or those you don't care about... and you don't screw up."  Impmon fixed Sera with a gaze, his expression deadly serious.  "And if I ever find out who told you all that bullcrap, I'll make them regret it."

      Tears returned to Sera's eyes as she met Impmon's hardened gaze.  "... Impmon..."  She closed her eyes again as tears trickled down her cheeks.  "... It... it just... it... feels that way...," she whispered, the tide of words flowing out against her will because of her emotions.  "I... I mean... I shouldn't complain... I can't complain... because... my family's rich... and has connections... I'm cute... healthy... and get good grades... and other things like that... and I can't really do anything for anyone... where it counts..."  She went silent for a moment again as she wiped at her tears.  "... And I'm upsetting you... because I'm complaining... and acting... this way... when you need comfort more..."

      Impmon twitched violently and whirled to dig his claws in to the chair, snarling angrily as he tore at the fabric.  "DAMN IT!  DAMN IT!  DAMN IT!  **DAMN IT ALL TO THE DARK OCEAN!**"

      Sera cringed and covered her ears as she shook slightly.  "... I'm sorry...," she said weakly.  She then decided not to speak anymore, as all it accomplished was just making Impmon angry.

      Once the couch was thoroughly mangled, Impmon slumped in to a sitting position and panted.  After a few minutes, he looked at Sera. "That's a load of crap, Sera. And you're upsetting me because you won't stop insulting yourself."

      "..."  Sera let her hands drop down limply into her lap, as she remained silent.  If she didn't say anything, she wouldn't upset him anymore, so she opened her eyes and looked blankly at her hands as she tried to will things better.

      "..." Impmon regarded Sera, and then sighed.  "I knew it...  I knew I should have let Diaboromon kill me...  I'm totally screwing up your life.  I'm screwing up everything.  You need someone to help you with your problems... someone who isn't a murderer like me."

      Impmon whirled to point a claw at Sera.  "And if you say that's your fault, too, I'll bite my tongue off."

      "... You're not!" Sera couldn't help but cry out, in spite of her earlier resolve to be quiet.  "No you're not!"  She lunged suddenly to hug him tightly, as if afraid he would run away.  "You're the only thing right in my life...!  You're the only one who cares...  I'm scared to death of screwing this up... like I have with my parents... so just please... don't... don't..."  She broke off with a sob, her body trembling violently.

      "Yes I am," Impmon replied.  He glanced at Sera, his expression thoughtful.  "You're like this because of me, aren't you?  It's my fault that you think that way about yourself.  You just won't stop.  It's not like me, because I killed people and I know it.  No one had to tell me that.  But for you... someone told you this crap and you believe it.  It's because of me.  I'm making it worse."

      "... No I'm not...," Sera voice shook as badly as the rest of her, her cheeks stained with tears.  "I'm screwed up... I skate into traffic and hope I get hit... I chase away any friends I get because of how I act... because they're worse off than me... I attract perverts who try to... to..."  She swallowed thickly, fighting off another sob.  "... My... my parents never want to be with me... and I can only make them happy... if I... I just ignore how I feel... and do whatever m-mom wants... and... I just keep messing up... so she y-yells..."  She practically bit her tongue as she realized exactly what she let slip.  She grimaced, as she didn't want to badmouth anyone or complain anymore.

      "... That's it...," Impmon's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him.  "... It's them... it's your parents... they abused you..."

      "... N-no... no they don't...," Sera protested weakly in denial.  "... They care... they do... they just... they work so hard... so I have nice things... and... I can't ever understand... that they do it... because they care... they never hit me... or tried to hurt me... just punish me... whenever I'm wrong..."

      "Yes they do," Impmon snapped.  "They're never home, even I know that.  They neglect you! You're being abused!  It all makes sense now!  All that crap you said is nothing more than excuses they make up to try and cover up the fact that they're never there for you!"

      "..."  Sera closed her eyes, at a lack for anything to say.  Impmon's words rung true, as they were what she herself had thought from time to time.  That was why she tried to never think of it, and just tried to ignore the problem.

      Just like her parents ignored her.

      "It's all their fault!" Impmon whispered, a sudden rage filling him.  They were the reason why Sera always blamed herself; that had to be the answer.  However, that brought about new questions.  What would he do about it?

      "... They're nice... they really are... and try to spend time with me... but work keeps them away... and... I could go with them... if I wasn't so..." Sera trailed off, not wanting to say bad things about herself, as that was the entire problem in the first place.  "... They do it... for me... they told me that... my mom... she tries to get me more involved... with her life... and dad too..."  She shook her head slightly.  "... I didn't mean for it to seem... like they hate me... and try to... abuse me... because of that..."

      "That's a lie," Impmon snorted.  "If they were trying, I would have seen them once and a while.  Either that's another excuse or they're not trying hard enough."

      "... They were on business trips...," Sera weakly protested.

      "Why didn't they ever call then?" Impmon demanded.  "And why did they hang up while you were talking when they DID call?"

      "..."  Sera couldn't answer, as there was no good answer to Impmon's question.

      "It all makes sense now!" Impmon threw his arms up, laughing.  "How can you think good about yourself when your own parents talk crap like that?"

      "..." Sera didn't respond as she wondered the same thing.  What Impmon was saying made sense, but it still hurt to think that her parents would care so little about her.

      "That must be why they're always throwing you at Ai and Mako-chan.  I bet they're just giving you busywork!" Impmon fumed.

      Sera sighed softly, at a loss for anything to say.  What Impmon said made perfect sense.  After all, it wasn't as if her parents couldn't afford to hire a babysitter to watch the twins instead of her.

      "Of all the NERVE!" Impmon muttered darkly, then kicked at the couch.  "What the heck is up wit' dat!?"

      Almost immediately Sera knew the reason why, but she didn't want to believe it.  She couldn't believe it.  If it wasn't her fault that they didn't want to spend time with her, then it was because they hated being around her.  She tried not to think of it, but couldn't help but wonder when the last time was that her parents had told her that they loved her.  A horrible ill feeling welled up in her chest as not one instance came to mind.  They were always so busy that the closest they ever came was just agreeing with her whenever she said it to them.

      "Well, whatever," Impmon snorted, and then looked up at Sera.  "I dun deserve you... I know dat... and everyone does.  But I love you... and I don't think yer any of that bad stuff.  Besides... dis means I have you all to myself."

      "..."  Tears came again as Sera looked at Impmon, those three little words affecting her more than she would have ever thought.  He had told her that he loved her once before, but she was too tired at the time to really realize it and react.  Now he said it again, and without prompting.  That fact alone affected her in ways that she could never hope to describe.  "... Impmon... I love you too..."  She wiped away the tears from her eyes and smiled at her partner.  "Thank you so much..."  She then reached over and hugged him tightly.

      Impmon returned the hug, purring softly.  "I really don't deserve it, you know."

      "You do," Sera mumbled softly into Impmon's ear.  "Without you... I'd be alone.  But I have you... and you love me... I can't tell you how happy you make me..."

      "Mrrr," Impmon flushed.  "... I know of one way..."

      Sera blushed deeply as she realized what Impmon meant.  She nodded, smiling, and then leaned in to kiss him tenderly.

**_*~*_**

      "You shouldn't use that card as battle support."

      "Really?  Why not?" Takato blinked at Tsuyosa.

      "It won't do anything," Tsuyosa replied as he tapped the card.  "It doesn't have any effects.  It'd be just a wasted turn and a wasted card."

      "Well... I needed to clear up some space in my deck to get some better cards," Takato sweatdropped.

      "I guess that works... but you could've used it to give you more evolution points," Tsuyosa sat back.  "So you can go to the next level."

      "Huh?  How?" Takato blinked.

      "That's a Tyrannomon card," Tsuyosa replied.  "It's worth a lot of evolution points."

      "But I don't have anything to evolve in my deck," Takato sighed.

      "... Then you're right... it'd be best to use the card and at least get rid of it, so you can draw better cards," Tsuyosa leaned back.  "It won't do anything to hurt you."

      "Right," Takato nodded and smiled.

      "Hmmm," Tsuyosa scuffled through his cards, and then tilted his head.  "I should do the same..."  He grinned cutely as he put down a Birdramon card.  "Won't do much good but at least I'll get my attack in first AND clear up some space!"

      "Gah!  That knocked me down to 10 hit points!" Takato boggled.

      "Whoops," Tsuyosa blinked.  "I thought you were going to use your defense move and knock my super attack to zero!"

      "..."  Takato slumped his head forward.  "I forgot...," he muttered.

      "..." Tsuyosa face-faulted.  "... Sorry..."

      "... It's okay," Takato shook his head then smiled at Tsuyosa.  "You're just better at this than I am."

      "I've had plenty of time to practice," Tsuyosa replied.  "But you've had actual experiences... and I don't think real opponents follow rules like this so I guess it's a moot point."

      "Well I guess that's true...," Takato muttered.  "But still, I think with your skills and ChibiBa's strength, you two are hard to take down!" he smiled excitedly.

      "Um," Tsuyosa flushed lightly at the compliment.  "Well..."

      "It's true!" Takato smiled.

      "..." Tsuyosa's cheeks pinked a little more.

      Takato grinned then drew a card.  He smiled widely at what he got and threw it down.  "Yes!  Speed-evolve!  Agumon evolves to Greymon and recovers all his hit points!" he beamed.

      "Wow," Tsuyosa stared.  "Good job!"

      "Thanks!" Takato smiled happily.

      Tsuyosa looked at his cards, sticking his tongue out slightly as he considered what to do with his current deck.

      Tsuyosa suddenly opened his eyes, then giggled and put down a card.  "I have enough evolution points, too!" he grinned.  "Say hello to LADY DEVIMON!"  He paused, then made a face.  "... Something about that is mildly ironic and disturbing."

      "Ah!  No!" Takato cried as he fell over backwards.  "You wiped me out!"

      Tsuyosa blinked and leaned over to look down at Takato, blinking.  "Are you okay?"

      Takato sat back up quickly and nodded.  "Yeah," he smiled in an assuring manner at Tsuyosa.  "That was a great move, Tsu!"

      Tsuyosa rubbed the back of his head.  "Thanks..."

      Takato smiled then started picking up his cards.


	49. Dance Dance Revolution

Authors' Notes: Wow... long time no update, huh?  Sorry about that all but so many things came up to delay this chapter being posted that it wasn't funny.

      No warnings this chapter.  Yup, completely yaoi-free, so you yaoi haters can relax.  Sorry to all you fellow yaoi fans!

      Since it's been a while I'll restate what we've said in the beginning: the story and new characters are ours but everything else belongs to the creators of Digimon, so please don't steal!  It'd make us angry.

      Finally, I'd like to thank our beta-readers for looking over this story and giving their seal of approval.  Good beta-readers help a LOT!

      Anyway, enough notes.  Enjoy!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 34: Dance Dance Revolution_**

**_*~*_**

      "... All right, guys," Pandamon narrowed his eyes as he held the reigns tighter, glancing back.  "We're here."

      Thunder roared as darkened clouds flashed as lightning flickered across the sky.  Amid the darkened horizon was a massive black castle, reaching skyward as if to tear the very sun from it.

      It would have been truly frightening, if not for the pink.

      Bright pink ribbons dangled down from the towers, which were decorated with hot pink shingles.  Bright pink and red hearts littered the intimidating brick surface as matching heart lava lamps illuminated the darkness.  Mingled among the hearts were yellow, blue, and white 'hippie flowers' and the drawbridge, itself, was nothing more than a giant yellow smiley face with the words 'Welcome To The Happiest Place In The Digital World!' written over top in pink letters.

      However, nothing could compare to the most hideous detail of all; hideous girl band music blared loudly, echoing from the depths of the castle nonstop.

      _"La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la."_

      "Warn the kids," Pandamon muttered as he flicked the reigns, driving the hesitant Moosemon onwards.

      Black Tailmon rolled along on her ball, bopping each of the wagons in turn.  "Almost there!" she cried at each wagon.

      "That has to be the ugliest castle in the world," ChibiBa muttered.  "Whoever decorated it should die."

      "That's why you're here, isn't it?" Pandamon smirked.

      _"La, la, la, la, la, la."_

      "Ya know, boss, no matter how many times we come here, this place always gives me the willies," Opossomon shivered as he landed next to Pandamon.

      "I know," Pandamon flicked his ears.  "Hopefully this will be the last time."

      _"When your feeling sad and low..."_

      "All the kids are warned, boss," Black Tailmon rolled up.

      "Good," Pandamon nodded, then glanced at the two of them.  "You can still back out if you want...  It's going to be dangerous... especially if they find out."

      "Naw," Black Tailmon smirked.  "I'm stayin' here to take care of YOU... and besides, I AM your star attraction."

      "Me?  Not entertain and be cute?" Opossomon's jaw dropped as he stared at Pandamon as if he lost his mind.  "You nuts?!"

      _"We will take you where you got to go!"_

      "... Just don't die on me, okay?" Pandamon muttered, then paused and bristled.  "Shhhh, the guards!"

      The Moosemon came to a stop in front of the drawbridge, which slowly opened to the tune of 'It's A Small World After All'.  Once the drawbridge was open, a troupe of Rabbitmon marched out in single file.

      _"Smiling and dancing... everything is free!"_

      "Ah, Pandamon!" the head Rabbitmon giggled and waved his paws.  "Good to see you!"

      Pandamon nodded in greeting, smiling brightly.

      "And Opossomon, too!" the Rabbitmon continued.  "We look forward to your balloons!"

      Opossomon smiled brightly as he made an elaborate wave of his paw and pulled out a batch of balloons from inside of his glove.  "What color would you like?" he asked cheerfully as he tilted his head cutely.

      A chorus of "PINK!" echoed through the air.

      _"All you need is postivity!"_

      "And you, my dear!" Rabbitmon bowed low to Black Tailmon, who grinned and swung her hips suggestively.  "We definitely look forward to your performance!"

      "I'll give you a show to remember, nyaaaaar," Black Tailmon winked.

      _"Colors of the world, Spice up your life!"_

      "Pink, pink, pink, pink balloons for pink, pink, pink, pink bunnies!" Opossomon sang as he pulled a batch of pink balloons from his opposite glove.

      The Rabbitmon squealed happily and took the balloons, dancing.  ChibiBa regarded them icily, then snorted as he kept out of sight at the back with Sheepmon.

      _"Every boy and every girl, Spice up your life!"_

      "By the way... have you seen My Lady Devimon?" the head Rabbitmon blinked.  "She last reported in at your area but we haven't heard from her since!"

      "My Lady Devimon?" Pandamon blinked, as if surprised.  "No, why do you ask?"

      "It's so unlike her not to report in," Rabbitmon sighed.

      "Hard to get good help these days," Opossomon giggled as he juggled a batch of pink balls he pulled out of his gloves.  He then tilted his head cutely.  "Except for us cuties!"

      "I'm afraid I haven't seen her!" Pandamon shook his head.  "I hope nothing bad happened to her."

      "Not me," Rabbitmon muttered.  "Don't tell My Lady Reapermon I said so, but My Lady Devimon's a real bitch!"

      _"People of the world, Spice up your life!"_

      "Not a word," Pandamon swore sagely, then winked.  "Mum's the word!"

      Opossomon pantomimed zipping up his lips, and strangely the remaining balloons he held appeared to have had their painted mouths replaced with the image of closed zippers at the same time.

      "Alright, come on in!" Rabbitmon stepped out of the way, as did his entire troupe, which had somehow doubled in size.  "We look forward to your show!"

      "Thank you!" Pandamon wiggled his ears, cutely, as he snapped the reigns and drove the wagon inside the castle grounds.

      _"Aaaaaaahhhhh...  Slam it to the left, if you are having a good time!"_

      Opossomon tilted his head cutely as he looked back at the Rabbitmon once they had passed them.  "... Hey... what are they doing?" he blinked innocently, his expression blank.

      "... Making more Rabbitmon," Pandamon replied, his voice tense.  "Don't look... it's very dirty."

      "EEP!" Opossomon yelped and he quickly looked away, not wanting to sully up his cuteness with seeing dirty stuff.

      "Uuuugh," Black Tailmon snorted.  "I've heard of increasing your numbers but every second?!"

      _"Shake it to the right, if you know that you feel fine!"_

      "Shhh," Pandamon hushed her as he pulled the wagon about to create a circle, hiding the middle from sight.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon shrugged.

      _"Chicas it to the front, uh, uh, go around!"_

**_*~*_**

      Cute digimon scurried about, setting up tents and equipment as they worked around the massive wagon train circle.  The hideous music slowly dulled as obstacles absorbed the sound, easing the strain on everyone's ears.  In the small area enclosed by the wagon, out of sight and hearing, the Tamers huddled to themselves as they awaited the arrival of Pandamon.

      Tsuyosa rocked back and forth quietly, tracing patterns in the back of ChibiBa's head.  ChibiBa purred slightly, obviously enjoying himself.  Next to him Takato stood anxiously with Guilmon, the latter of whom twitching as he looked around tensely, the feeling of a horribly strong digimon nearby making him ready for battle.  Ruki leaned against the wagons, Renamon nearby.  Both looked very calm and casual, though Ruki couldn't help but glance about now and again.  Jenrya stood beside them with Terriermon sitting on his shoulders, the small digimon trying to lighten the mood by teasing Impmon occasionally.  Impmon, instead of retorting, simply made faces at the other digimon as he sat in Sera's lap.

      "... Hey guys,"

      "...?" Tsuyosa glanced up and blinked at Ruki, who glanced skyward.  Ruki's expression turned solemn as she gazed up from the wagon circle at the sky.  Seeing as the courtyard was open air, the night sky stretched far above them like a thick blanket of darkness.

      "What is it, Ruki?" Jenrya blinked as he tilted his head slightly.

      "... Was there... a moon the last time we were here?" Ruki narrowed her eyes.

      "I didn't see one last time," Takato blinked before he glanced up at the sky.

      "... There's one now."  Ruki pointed skyward, her finger aimed at a large, silver moon in the sky.  It shimmered beautifully in the sky, like a sparkling, freshly polished silver coin.

      "... Where did that come from...?" Jenrya wondered as he stared at the moon.

      "... That's weird," Impmon blinked slowly.

      "That's even freakier than Impmon," Terriermon commented.

      "... Yes, it is," ChibiBa grunted.

      "What is?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... I've always known there was a moon... but I don't remember ever seeing it.  It's like... a dream?" ChibiBa grunted.

      "... Makes me feel kinda warm inside," Impmon blinked.  "... Like a big blanket's wrapped around me."

      "... I don't feel anything out of the ordinary... except, perhaps, some unease," Renamon muttered, glancing at the moon.

      "Same here," Terriermon tilted his head.

      Guilmon didn't make any comment, even though he felt the same way Impmon had, as he also felt too tense to let down his guard with Reapermon so close.

      "Maybe what made the sky fall made the moon?" Sera ventured, refraining from making any comments about how cute Impmon was in the moonlight.

      "... No, that program wasn't designed to create.  Only destroy," Jenrya replied, surprisingly tense.

      "Then how?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "... I don't know," Jenrya shook his head.

      "Eh, it's just a moon anyway...," Ruki shrugged.  "It doesn't matter."

      "... Regardless of how it's there... I think it's nice," Sera said softly as she held Impmon closely before she stood up, carrying him in her arms.

      "Ahem."

      The Tamers turned to stare as Pandamon slipped through the wagon train, arriving in the secluded area.

      Obviously nervous and wary, Pandamon itched his chin as he gazed at the Tamers.  "Well," he sighed.  "This is it, then."

      "Yeah, so what's the plan?" Ruki muttered as she leaned back against one of the wagons.

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon flicked her ears, then smirked.  "We'll distract the minions, you go get the girl."

      "Everyone's definitely looking forward to it... especially Black Tailmon's act," Pandamon added.  "So no one will pay attention to you."

      "Then we find Shuichon," Jenrya nodded as he held Terriermon.  "Get her to safety... and then deal with Reapermon."

      "Black Tailmon's act will be first, instead of our finale," Pandamon observed.  "It'll put a strain on the other acts... but we'll at least have the suggestion implanted for in case you're discovered."

      "Nyar," Black Tailmon smirked.

      "Suggestion implanted?" Takato blinked.

      "Oh, that's right.  You don't know how we did everything, do you?" Pandamon put his paws on his hips, regarding Takato icily.

      "Does this have to do with how you kidnapped half the city's children?" Jenrya asked, frowning.

      "We didn't KIDNAP," Pandamon snorted.  "They came WILLINGLY."

      "... More or less," Black Tailmon purred.

      "Just like Jen 'willingly' went into that crystal?" Terriermon glared.

      "More or less," Black Tailmon tilted her head, smirking.

      "You're going to use your Cat's Eye Hypnosis attack on them," Renamon deduced calmly.

      "Sort of," Black Tailmon shrugged.  "I just use my attack to... implant a suggestion in to my audience that I can activate at any time using a specific note on my crystals."

      "That must've been why Sera attacked me!" Impmon whispered, suddenly.  "She was acting all weird like the others!  She must've seen the show!"

      "Did you say something, Impmon?" Sera blinked as she looked down at her partner.

      "... Nope!  Notta thing, toots," Impmon said, quickly.

      "I'll just do what I did at the circus for the kiddies," Black Tailmon shrugged, rubbing her neck as if to relax the muscles.  "I'll dance, implanting a suggestion to obey my every word when I command them to."

      "I see...," Tsuyosa muttered.  "That way, if push comes to shove, you can make Reapermon's own minions attack him!"

      "Tsu-chan's smart!" Pandamon crooned, wiggling his ears.  Tsuyosa blinked and blushed lightly.

      "Stop flirting, and let's get going," Ruki snorted as she stood up straight.

      "Boss!  Boss!"

      "Eh?" Pandamon looked up to see Opossomon as he floated down from above to hover just above him and the others.

      "Reapermon's in the tent!" Opossomon said hurriedly.  "Everyone's ready for the show to start!"

      "... Ugh... we can't keep him waiting," Pandamon sighed, then hurried towards the entrance.  "We've got to start now... you all be careful!"  Then, he disappeared from sight through the wagon train.

      Black Tailmon tilted her head, and then sighed.  "Time to get dressed, then," she sighed, then looked at the Tamers.  "Don't screw up, nyar."

      Black Tailmon lashed her tail and darted after Pandamon, quickly.

      "Everybody ready?" Jenrya asked as he glanced at the others.

      "Yea-," Takato started to answer, but was suddenly interrupted.

      "OKAY!  THAT'S IT!  I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR CUTENESS!" Opossomon snarled as he pointed an angry claw at Impmon, glaring murderously at the purple digimon.

      Impmon yelped and whirled, staring at Opossomon.

      "Change into that huge uncute large form thing NOW!" Opossomon snapped, his fur bristling.

      "... Huge uncute thing?" Impmon's cheek twitched.

      "Hey!  He's NOT uncute!" Sera protested, frowning.

      "CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE NOW!" Opossomon flailed his paws, agitated.

      "Uh...," Impmon blinked.

      "I'll give you something if you do," Opossomon added.

      "... Like what?" Impmon's cheek twitched.  "An exploding balloon?"

      "Kinda!" Opossomon grinned as he popped a pair of his balloons.  A pair of unusual-looking guns appeared where the balloons once were, as if they were somehow hidden inside of them, before they fell onto the ground with a clatter.

      Impmon stared at them, his jaw dropping.  "W-wait... those look like..."

      "Deeeeeaaaaal?" Opossomon twitched as he stared at Impmon anxiously.

      "... YES!" came the grunt reply as Beelzebumon leaned down to grab the guns eagerly.

      "... How does he do that!?" Tsuyosa blinked repeatedly.

      "... I have no idea," Sera blinked as she wondered how Impmon suddenly seemed to disappear from her arms then reappear as Beelzebumon standing next to her almost instantaneously.

      "Practice," ChibiBa grunted.

      "YAAAY!" Opossomon squealed.  "I'm cutest again!"

      Beelzebumon examined the guns, eagerly.  "They're almost like my old ones!"

      "Okaaaay," Ruki growled, irritably.  "Are we DONE yet?  We're wasting time!"

      "We've got to hurry and rescue Shuichon!" Jenrya agreed, unusually agitated, as he feared for his sister's safety.

      Loud music suddenly blared as the sounds of cheering could be heard, thundering.

      "... They're starting," Ruki glowered at everyone, then proceeded for the opening.  "Let's go."  Renamon followed behind her Tamer silently, her ears twitching slightly.

      Jenrya nodded as he and Terriermon followed after the two girls.

      "..." Tsuyosa glanced at Takato, his expression concerned.  "Will... everyone be okay?"

      "Don't worry, Tsu," Takato said soothingly as he smiled at Tsuyosa.  "We've been in worse situations than this and still came out of it okay."

      "Yeah, we're strong!" Guilmon chirped.

      "... Yeah... but what about the circus?" Tsuyosa glanced over his shoulder.  "... They have that Reapermon right there!  Within a few FEET of them, no less!"

      "Don't worry about them.  They're resourceful," ChibiBa pointed out.  "They stayed alive this long."

      "Yeah, and I bet Pandamon has a back-up plan in case anything goes wrong," Sera commented.  "So let's stop worrying about them and hurry before the others leave us behind."

      Beelzebumon cackled evilly as he aimed his new guns about, like a child with new toys.

      "..." Sera sweatdropped as she watched her partner.

      "..." Tsuyosa slipped towards the entrance, holding ChibiBa close.  "... Here goes..."  With that, he slipped out after Jenrya, Ruki, Renamon, and Terriermon.  Takato followed right after Tsuyosa with Guilmon at his side.

      "... Ready, or do you want more time to play with your guns?" Sera asked teasingly.

      "Uh...," Beelzebumon sweatdropped, then slipped his guns into his sheaths and proceeded towards the entrance.  "... C'mon, toots!"

      "Right behind you, angel," Sera smiled as she followed Beelzebumon.

      "... Angel?" Beelzebumon blinked.  "Who?  What?  Eh?"

      "What?  I can't give you a nickname too?" Sera asked innocently.

      "But angel don't fit!"

      "Why not?"

      "'Cause I'm tall, dark, handsome, and ain't no angel," Beelzebumon pointed out as he slunk along the wagon train, following the Tamers as they made their way for the castle.

      "Well, yes, I agree with you there, except for the not being an angel part of course, but what do you call having wings then?" Sera asked quietly so they wouldn't be discovered as they snuck away from the safety of the wagons.

      "A lot of digimon have wings!" Beelzebumon muttered as he inched along, hunched over to hide from view as he walked behind some crates.  "They ain't even the right color!  They're more like... raven wings!"

      "But white wouldn't suit you," Sera whispered.  "Besides, you look more like an angel than most other digimon with wings."

      "White suits me about as much as angel does," Beelzebumon snorted.  "It's a pansy ass nickname."

      "Oh?  And just what nickname would suit you?" Sera arched an eyebrow.

      "ANYTHING but 'angel'," Beelzebumon replied.  "I'm a virus.  If another virus knew you called me an angel, they'd beat my ass out of principle."

      Sera blinked.  "... I didn't know virus types took offense to that."

      "Are you kidding!?" Beelzebumon stared at Sera as if she had just said something very silly.

      "Well... no..."  Sera blushed deeply, feeling foolish.    "Remember, you're the first digimon I've ever really met before.  I might know a lot about the anime, but I don't know everything about digimon."

      "But you've seen the anime, right?" Beelzebumon pointed out.  "So you'd know that VACCINES are angels!"

      Sera nodded slowly, figuring out what Beelzebumon meant.  "I didn't think of that, honestly...  I take it a virus being called a vaccine's an insult then?"

      "..." Beelzebumon stared at Sera.

      "... Right.  Stupid question."

      "... Well, sort of," Beelzebumon said, dryly.  "Especially since vaccines and viruses have been fighting since the entire world began.  It's like cats and dogs."

      "Oh," Sera blinked.  "I didn't know that.  Sorry...  I just thought they fought in the anime because most viruses were evil."

      "And why do you suppose that is?" Beelzebumon grinned, winking.

      Sera blinked, then pondered before she tilted her head slightly.  "Because viruses have the highest attack power?" she ventured.

      Beelzebumon paused, then nodded.  "That's generally true, yeah... but I guess what I'm trying to say is that viruses and vaccines naturally rub each other the wrong way."

      "I guess that makes sense."  Sera scratched her cheek lightly.  "Computer vaccines delete viruses and visa-versa."

      Beelzebumon nodded.

      Sera looked thoughtful.  "Maybe I should just call you 'kitty' instead then," she said with a wink, obviously teasing.

      "... No, I don't think so," Beelzebumon stuck his tongue at her.

      "Shut up back there!" Ruki growled.  "Just because they aren't here doesn't mean they can't hear us!"

      "Sorry," Sera whispered, blushing slightly as it really wasn't the right time.  Although she couldn't help herself from sticking her tongue out in retaliation at Beelzebumon playfully once Ruki had turned back around.

      Beelzebumon razzed her back, grinning, before he quickly darted after the others.

**_*~*_**

      A soft snore issued as Shuichon curled up in her sleeping back, her expression peaceful.  She breathed slowly as she slumbered; thoroughly exhausted from all of the 'girl things' she had done that day.

      Lopmon sat vigilantly next to Shuichon; the small rabbit type digimon standing guard over her Tamer as she struggled not to fall asleep.  Lopmon was just as exhausted as her partner was, but still she refused to lower her guard for even an instant.  Who knew what could happen while they were asleep?

      A soft crunching came from overhead as the Leomon puppet drifted back and forth, munching on Reeses Pieces directly from the bag.  Bits of candy dribbled down as it 'ate', messily.

      Lopmon eyed the puppet warily, the fur at the back of her neck standing on end.  Something about that puppet disturbed her greatly.

      The puppet seemed to notice Lopmon's scrutiny and twirled its head completely about to 'look' at her, munching.

      Lopmon barely suppressed a shiver as the puppet looked at her.  There was something evil glittering behind those button eyes it had.  She quickly looked away as she was too filled with a growing terror caused by the puppet to look anymore.

      The puppet seemed to find Lopmon amusing and let out a demented cackle before it resumed eating its candy.

      Lopmon twitched as she occasionally glanced at the Leomon puppet out of the corner of her eye.  While she didn't want to look at it, let alone be anywhere near it, she had to keep an eye on it just in case.

      Suddenly, the Leomon puppet quirked its head as if listening.  It stopped munching, its little felt paws holding the Reeses Pieces bag as it listened intently.

      Lopmon couldn't help but tense as she paid complete attention to the demented puppet.  "What now?" she thought warily.

      "..." The puppet blinked, and then suddenly grinned a demented little puppet grin.  "Rawr."

      Lopmon eyed the Leomon puppet warily, ready for anything.

      With a giggle, the Leomon puppet dropped its entire bag of Reeses Pieces and hovered over to the door before phasing through it as if it weren't even there.

      Lopmon blinked then slumped as she let out a sigh of relief.  "I don't know what that was all about, but I'm glad that thing's gone," she muttered quietly to herself.

**_*~*_**

      "... It's so... quiet," Tsuyosa whispered as he held ChibiBa close, looking around warily.

      "It should be," Ruki hissed as she glanced around a corner.  "Everyone's at the circus."

      "... But...," Tsuyosa fumbled, then swallowed.  "... Something FEELS wrong..."

      "What do you mean, Tsu?" Takato blinked.

      "...," Tsuyosa flushed.  "Well... doesn't it feel... tense?"

      "It's just because we're all worried about getting caught," Jenrya whispered.

      "... Actually, I noticed it too," Beelzebumon muttered.  "It's like dis whole place is waitin' fer something to happen!"

      "I agree," Renamon nodded quietly as her ears twitched.  "I don't think we're alone."

      "That's what I meant...," Tsuyosa whispered quietly, to himself.

      "... Does this mean we're going to be attacked soon?" Sera asked quietly, voice tense.

      "Rawr!"

      "A-ah!?" Tsuyosa came to a complete stop and stared, dumbfounded.  "T-Takato! Look!"

      Takato whirled around quickly to look...

      ...and came nose to nose with a demented Leomon puppet.

      "G-GAH!" Takato yelped as he fell backwards in surprise.

      "Rawr?" the puppet tilted its head and snapped its 'jaws' together before it covered it's 'face' with its felt paws and giggled.

      Guilmon growled and his eyes narrowed into slits as he quickly moved between Takato and the strange puppet, every sense in the digimon's body warning him of danger.

      "What... IS that thing!?" Ruki muttered.  "A PUPPET?"

      "... It seems to be possessed..." Jenrya blinked.

      "Raaawrr!" the puppet wiggled its paws, then floated upside down and giggled again.

      "Just like Jijimon and Babamon said," Renamon tensed.  "It IS alive."

      "Talk about creepy," Terriermon muttered.

      "Is it... a digimon?" Tsuyosa glanced at Takato, then yelped when the puppet zipped in to his face and 'wiggled' its little nose.

      "Raaawr?" the puppet repeated.

      Takato scrambled to his feet quickly and pulled out his D-Arc to scan the puppet.  "... 'No data'," he read, frowning.

      "U-uh... hi?" Tsuyosa stared and backed away as ChibiBa growled in a feral manner.

      "EVERYTHING'S 'no data' recently," Beelzebumon growled.

      "Rawr?" the puppet zoomed closer, then 'grinned'.  "REESES PIECES!"

      "Uh... I don't have any," Tsuyosa backed away, then squeaked as the puppet followed him, step for step.

      "Back off, felt boy," ChibiBa growled.

      "Pfffttthhhh!" the puppet razzed ChibiBa with a little pink felt tongue.

      "Be careful," Renamon warned as she eyed the Leomon puppet warily.  "Babamon and Jijimon warned us the puppet is very dangerous."

      "It's a puppet!" Ruki muttered.  "What kind of attacks could it possibly do!?"

      "It eats digimon," Terriermon commented.  "That sounds like an attack to me!"

      "..." Tsuyosa paled as the puppet stared at him.

      "... GET AWAY!" ChibiBa snapped.  "No eating Tsu!"

      "... Maybe if we distract it we can get past it?" Sera offered quietly.

      "RAWR!" the puppet suddenly zipped over to Sera and 'sniffed' her.  "REESES PIECES!"

      "EEP!" Sera yelped in surprise as she instinctively backed away from the puppet.

      "HEY!" Beelzebumon barked.

      "REESES PIECES!" the puppet repeated, and then started waving its paws happily.  "CHOCO-CHOCO-CHOCOLAAAATE!"

      Sera tensed before she reached into her backpack and quickly groped around inside of it, keeping an eye on the Leomon puppet as she did so.  "Uh... here!" she cried as she threw a small bag of Reeses Pieces over the puppet's head.

      "REESES PIECES!" came the battle cry as the puppet lunged to catch the bag and tore at it like a rabid dog.

      "... L-let's get by...," Tsuyosa scooted away from the puppet, far too close for comfort, as ChibiBa continued to glower.

      "I'm with you...," Takato sweatdropped as he backed away from the puppet as it ate the pack of Reeses violently.

      "... Renamon...," Ruki began as she followed, her eyes locked on the puppet.  "Let's go..."  Renamon nodded as she matched Ruki's pace, her gaze never wavering from the puppet.

      "..." Jenrya slowly followed the others, his expression grim.

      "C'mon, Sera...," Beelzebumon growled as he gestured Sera to slip past before he followed.

      Sera nodded vigorously as she walked past Beelzebumon quickly, eying the puppet and hoping it didn't finish off the bag before they got away.

      "RAWR!"

      Suddenly, the puppet threw its paws up in the air triumphantly.  The puppet twirled about before it put its 'paws' on its 'hips' and started wiggling its back end, as if dancing.  "Rawr ra, ra, ra, ra raaawrrr!"

      "... What is it doing?" Ruki blinked.

      "Rawr, rawr ra, ra RAWR!" the puppet sang as it danced about, lashing its tail and wiggling its end in a bizarre dance.

      "It's... dancing?" Sera blinked before she started moving her hips slightly.  "Huh?"

      "H-HEY!"  Beelzebumon squeaked as his hips started to sway in tune with the puppet's.  "I can't stop!"

      "Eeee!" Tsuyosa squeaked as his own hips started to shake as well, his hands going to his hips as they released ChibiBa.  "I...!"

      "ACK!" ChibiBa yelped as he started to sway as well, and then flushed, as his body seemed to move of its own accord.  "WHAT THE HECK!?"

      "What's going on!?" Takato yelped as his body started to move on its own.

      "The puppet-!" Ruki gasped as her body danced without her consent.  "It's that damn puppet!"

      "Rawrrrrr ra, ra raawwrr!" the puppet agreed as it twirled about, all those assembled twirling as well.

      "It's somehow controlling us," Renamon hissed as she danced and swayed against her will.

      "It's a trap!  It was intending to do this from the start!" Jenrya gasped.

      "Uurg!  I can't fight it!" Terriermon gritted his teeth as he tried to stop his body's movements, but was unable to.

      The puppet whirled about again, and then started waving its paws about as it swung its 'hips' about.  "RAWRRR!"

      "What do we do?!" Sera yelped as she moved her hands on her hips and bounced in time to an unknown beat.

      "I don't know-EYAK!?" Beelzebumon yowled suddenly when he felt a pair of powerful arms grab his legs.

      "Wha?!  Beelzebumon?!" Sera cried as she turned her head to see a pair of large black-clawed hands pulling Beelzebumon towards the wall they originated from.

      "HEY!  LET GO!  HEEEEEY-!" was all Beelzebumon could scream before he disappeared in to the wall.

      "BEELZEBUMON!" Sera screamed, but was helpless to do anything as the puppet continued to make her and the rest of the Tamers dance.

      "What happened!?" Tsuyosa whimpered as he twirled about.

      "Something grabbed him!" ChibiBa snarled.  "We're sitting ducks!"

      "We better do something quick or one of us is going to be picked off next!" Jenrya cried as he stepped forward and back.

      "I'm open to suggestions," Terriermon grunted as he spun around on Jenrya's head.

      Meanwhile, the puppet seemed to grow even more demented looking as it danced.  Hideous, dagger like teeth slowly appeared within its mouth as its 'eyes' narrowed.  Soon, the teeth were huge and jagged like that of a shark's.

      "T-Takato!" Tsuyosa yelped.

      "Guilmon!  Try attacking it!" Takato yelped, tensing at the sight of the puppet's horrible teeth.

      "I'll try," Guilmon said as he struggled to keep his head straight.  "FIREBALL!"

      The puppet whirled about just then, causing the attack to fire off harmlessly in another direction, before it returned to facing the Tamers with a sadistic sneer.

      "Rawwwrrr," the puppet said, its voice suddenly very deep and hideous.

      "No good," Guilmon whimpered as he twirled about.

      The puppet twirled closer and closer, waving its tiny paws merrily as it descended upon its victims.  It grew more hideous by the second as slobber trickled down its fangs, seemingly from its mouth.

      "What're we going to do!?" Terriermon yelped, his eyes wide as he stared at the puppet helplessly, his body continuing to dance on its own.  "It's gonna eat us like those Reeses!"

      "Reeeesseeeeessss," the puppet agreed as it hovered towards Tsuyosa, its button eyes gleaming sadistically.

      "I-I'm not a Reeses!" Tsuyosa yelped.

      "GET AWAY FROM TSU!" ChibiBa snarled.

      "TSU!" Takato cried.

      "GET AWAY FROM TSUUUUUU-CHAN!"

      "Eh?" Tsuyosa's eyes widened just as the puppet went flying backwards with a squeak, a panda paw slamming in to its felt stomach with all its might.

      Pandamon flipped back and growled, crouched and ready to attack.

      "Pandamon!" Jenrya gasped.

      "R-rawr!?" the puppet hovered up.

      "I saw Reapermon leave the crowd and knew something was up," Pandamon growled as he kept his eyes locked on the puppet.

      "Yeah, yeah, good, now kill the puppet!" ChibiBa snarled.  "And don't call him Tsu-chan!"

      Pandamon smirked, then lunged and slashed the puppet across the chest.  Oddly enough, the puppet fell back and a disgusting pink goop of cotton started to dribble out of the wound.

      Pandamon snapped about to swipe at the puppet again, slicing it once more.  It let out a strangled cry that was half demonic, half agony, and utterly demented.  Pandamon glared as the puppet went into spasms, spewing the disgusting glob of pink goo and cotton, before falling down in a tangled heap on the ground.  It twitched once, and then went still.

      As the puppet ceased moving, so did the Tamers.

      Tsuyosa gasped and dropped to his knees, panting and coughing, as ChibiBa ran over to kick at the puppet before lunging to see if his Tamer was okay.

      "We're free!" Terriermon cheered before he slumped onto Jenrya's head.

      "Tsu!" Takato darted over to Tsuyosa.  "You okay?"

      "Y-yeah...," Tsuyosa nodded, looking slightly pale and winded.  "I'm f-fine..."

      "Tsuuu," ChibiBa sniffled.

      Pandamon glowered at the puppet, then turned to head towards the Tamers.  "You kids okay?"

      "Yeah," Jenrya nodded.  "A bit tired, but fine."

      "Where's the big guy?" Pandamon blinked.  "Beelzebumon?"

      "We have to save Beelzebumon!" Sera cried franticly.  "He got kidnapped by something in the wall!"

      "... Oh no," Pandamon paled as his eyes widened.  "That's NOT good!"

      "Do you know what might have taken him?" Renamon inquired.

      "Only one place," Pandamon paled.  "... Reapermon's snuggle room."

      "Reapermon's 'SNUGGLE ROOM'?" Ruki arched an eyebrow disbelievingly.

      "... Snuggle Room?" Renamon mirrored Ruki's disbelief.

      "Yes," Pandamon nodded, gravely.  "SNUGGLE ROOM."

      "... I-is that the kind of snuggling I think it is?" Tsuyosa stared at Pandamon, horrified.

      "..." Sera tensed, twitching slightly.

      "Poor Tsu-chan!" Pandamon darted over and hugged Tsuyosa, tightly.  "You shouldn't be exposed to such VULGARNESS at such a young age!"

      "A-ah!?" Tsuyosa flushed, confused.

      "... HANDS OFF, BEAR!" ChibiBa growled as he clamped on to Pandamon's arm and kicked his legs.

      "W-what kind of vulgarness?" Tsuyosa blinked.

      "You know those dirty, FILTHY movies that only adults can watch?" Pandamon looked at him.  "THAT kind."

      "... ..."  Sera clenched her fists tightly as her eyes narrowed.  "If Reapermon lays one claw on Beelzebumon...  I'LL KILL HIM!!!" she snarled, quaking with anger.

      Tsuyosa squeaked and fell backwards at the force of Sera's anger, then squeaked again when ChibiBa and Pandamon fell on him.  "A-ACK!"

      "... Sounds like a plan," Ruki agreed, her cheek twitching.

      "... Hn," Renamon nodded.

      "Uh... right," Jenrya sweatdropped, obviously having not expected such an outburst from Sera.  He paused suddenly, and then paled.  "He didn't take SHUICHON to that Snuggle Room, did he!?"

      "Of course not," Pandamon snorted.  "She's what, five?  That's just sick!"

      "Then where is she?!" Jenrya demanded.

      Pandamon pointed at a door to their right, with the words 'Shuichon' painted on in pink paint.  "In there."

      "..."

      "... How'd you think we missed THAT?" Terriermon blinked.

      "..." Ruki massaged her forehead.  "... Oy."

      "..." Tsuyosa looked at Takato, helplessly.  "... Um... help?"

      "Oh, right," Takato blinked at Tsuyosa.  "Pandamon, ChibiBa, could you get off of Tsu?"

      "No!" ChibiBa barked, glowering.

      "... Sigh...," Pandamon sat up, and then patted Tsuyosa on the head as the boy sat up.  "Sorry, Tsu-chan!  I have to go evacuate everyone!"

      "Uh...," Tsuyosa blinked.  "O-okay... thank you... and be careful."

      "Awww, he's worried about me!" Pandamon giggled, hearts appearing about him.  "I'll take care... but YOU be careful too, okay?"

      "... OI," ChibiBa glared.  "LEAVE ALLREADY!"

      Pandamon razzed ChibiBa, then whirled and took off down the hallway back to the circus.

      "Come on, let's go," Jenrya said as he darted over to the pink-painted door.

      "Right," Ruki grunted and made to follow, then yowled as she fumbled and fell.

      However, instead of hitting the ground, Ruki screamed as she fell through it.

      "Ruki!" Renamon cried as she darted over to her Tamer, only to fall as well.

      "What the!?" Jenrya whirled.  "What's happening!?"

      "Ruki!  Renamon!" Takato yelped then yelped again as the ground seemed to swallow him up.

      "TAKATO!" Guilmon yowled and snagged Takato's hand with his claws, but the digimon was unable to help as he fell through the floor with his Tamer.

      "Takato!" Tsuyosa yelped as he lunged to try and grab Takato's hand.

      Tsuyosa yelped as he grabbed Takato's hand and was nearly yanked in as well.  However, ChibiBa reacted quickly and yanked Tsuyosa upwards with all his might and held him above ground with a snarl.  He glowed brightly and transformed in to his huge mode when the floor tried to suck him down as well, then sneered when the floor found him too much to handle.

      "You ain't taking Tsu!" ChibiBa snarled.

      "Wha-!?" Sera started to call out before she screamed as the floor swallowed her up.

      "Takato!" Tsuyosa yelped, then stared as Sera disappeared too.  "W-what are we going to do!?"

      Jenrya cried out as the floor started to pull him down as well.  Instantly he snatched the nearby doorknob and held on with all his might.  "Rrgh!" he grunted as he held onto the doorknob with all his might to keep himself from falling in too, his body half sucked into the floor.  "H-Help!"

      "Jen!  Hang on!" Terriermon cried as he grabbed onto Jenrya's shoulders with his ears and the doorknob with his paws, trying to help him hang on.

      "CHIBIBA!" Tsuyosa cried, pointing at Jenrya.

      ChibiBa whirled and grabbed Jenrya's arm, yanking him upwards as well, none too gently.  ChibiBa plopped Jenrya down on his shoulder and bolted towards the door, kicking it heartily so that it literally shattered, before running through the now opened doorway.

      As the two remaining Tamers and their digimon disappeared from sight, a demented, choked cackle issued from the hallway before going silent once more.


	50. Puppet of Doom

Authors' Notes: Sorry about the extreme lateness of this chapter.  Don't worry that we've abandoned this fic.  Yuki's health has been pretty poor as of late so it became hard to get things in motion.  Hopefully the next chapter will be posted sooner.

      Thanks to everyone who left reviews and sent us e-mails! We really appreciate it!

**Dreaming to Reality**

_By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu_

**_Chapter 35: Puppet of Doom_**

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****

**_*~*_**

      "Urrrgggghh..."

      Beelzebumon twitched, his head aching and his entire body sore, as he slowly opened his eyes.  "What the...?"

      Beelzebumon suddenly tensed and stared as he found himself suspended by pink cables in a hot pink room filled with big pillows and stuffed animals.

      "... ..." Beelzebumon sweatdropped.

      There was a steady thrum of 'Girl Band' music as it originated from an unseen source, and the air was filled with the scent of molten chocolate and children's' perfume.

      "..." Beelzebumon was at a loss.

      "Tee hee... oh, you naughty boy!"

      "...!?" Beelzebumon glanced about wildly, then stared in horror as a long black claw slipped through the shadows to shake a finger at him.

      "Sneaking into my hoooome... you peeping TOM, you!"

      Beelzebumon blinked at the claw, then stared as the monster it belonged to slowly slipped in to view.  He was large and bulky, covered with muscles, and wore a gold chest plate with a black gemstone in the middle, matching gold boots and gloves, and a large gold skull-face mask with a unicorn horn over a black bodysuit.  A red belt wrapped around his waist as a gold shoulder guard covered one shoulder while a steel gray one covered the other.  He had a massive gold claw instead of a left hand, with the rest hidden under a steel gray shield-like gauntlet.

      However, the horror did not end there as the titanic looking digimon wore hot pink lingerie over the entire get-up.

      "... W-what the hell...!?" Beelzebumon's jaw dropped.

      "Naughty, naughty," the digimon drawled as he scooted closer, swinging his hips 'sexily'.  "How could you peek on little old ME?"

      "... YOU'RE Reapermon!" Beelzebumon's eyes widened.

      "Ooooooo!  We're even on first name terms!" Reapermon giggled, then slid closer to Beelzebumon.

      "..."

      "Beelzebumon...," Reapermon crooned as he ran a claw along the other digimon's bicep.  "You have nooo idea how much I've thought about you since that day!"

      "... Eh?"

      "That day... when I stabbed you with my plates and almost killed you.  Oh, please understand!  I had to!  You were trying to rescue that girl from me!" Reapermon crooned as he leaned closer.  "... But I've thought about you every day since then... and it's so nice to know your butt is just as cute up close as it is plummeting to your death!"

      Reapermon whirled and squealed like a schoolgirl.  "OH!  I'm so embarrassed!"

      "... ... ..."

      "See?  I even wrote it in my diary!" Reapermon squealed as he 'pranced' over to his dresser and pulled out a journal with My Little Horsies on the cover.  He 'pranced' back over and opened it.  "I had to go back and write in those days in the Real World... since, well, I didn't have it then... but once I was squashed so rudely by those naaasty humans and accidentally bonded with the human data I took from that nasty girl, I just HAD to keep an account of everything!"

      "... So that's it...," Beelzebumon muttered.  "... When Operation Doodlebug tried to delete D-Reaper... it accidentally fused the D-Reaper with that fake Juri!  Now he thinks he IS a girl like Juri!"

      "Oh!  Oh!  See?" Reapermon leaned close and pointed at an entry.  "'I killed people'...  Oh, wait... that's yesterday's.  Let me see..."  Reapermon flipped through his diary, humming to himself.

      "..."

      "OH!  NOW I found it!" Reapermon giggled and leaned close again, holding the diary to Beelzebumon's face.  "'I killed humans today...  That HUNK Beelzebumon came to try and save that nasty puppet girl from me so I had to hurt him... but it's okay because he lived.  BOY does he have a nice butt!'!"

      "EEEE!" Reapermon whirled and held his cheeks as if blushing.  "I'm soooo embarrassed!"

      "..." Beelzebumon felt ill.

      "Look at this!" Reapermon whirled about and showed him another entry.

      "... 'I killed more people'," Beelzebumon read, slowly.

      "No, below that," Reapermon pointed at the bottom, at a heart drawing with his name and Beelzebumon's name drawn in the center of it with red ink.

      At least, Beelzebumon hoped it was red ink.

      "Tee hee," Reapermon 'blushed'.

      "..." Beelzebumon felt even more ill.

      Reapermon leaned close, practically purring, as he rested his head against Beelzebumon's shoulder.  "You're sooooooo cool!" he crooned.

      "..." Beelzebumon resisted the urge to throw up as he twitched.

      "Ohh, don't be shy!" Reapermon crooned as he stepped back.  "Just because I'm a psychopathic murderer who's slaughtered thousands of innocent digimon easily and have no conceivable limitations doesn't mean you should FEAR me!"

      "..." Beelzebumon's eyes widened.

      "Have a chocolate!" Reapermon giggled as he put a Hershey's kiss in Beelzebumon's mouth.

      "..." Beelzebumon blinked, unsure of how to react.

      "Don't be disappointed.  After you finish the chocolate kisses," Reapermon began.  "You'll get a REAL one."

      "..." Beelzebumon pondered suicide.

**_*~*_**

      "What do you mean by that!?" Janyuu demanded.

      Janyuu slammed his hands on to the table, practically quivering.  "We're supposed to be fixing Primary Village!  What do you mean it isn't top priority!?"

      "It just might get destroyed again anyways.  No point in wasting effort on something that'll only get destroyed again!" Dolphin replied, shrugging.  "Destroying this Reapermon is a lot more important than some silly baby village."

      "'Silly baby village'!?" Janyuu repeated, sputtering.  "It's the only chance the digimon have of getting their lives back!"

      "Tao, Tao, TAO!" Dolphin chuckled, quietly.  "We'll get to it later!  We've got something more important to work on!  If Reapermon really is the D-Reaper reformatted, what if it comes after us again?"

      "The D-Reaper was a threat to all humanity... so obviously, this Reapermon might be one too," Daisy agreed.

      "But you all KNOW what happened with Operation Doodle Bug!  The chances are just too great that we'll cause something like that to happen again!" Janyuu protested.

      "That's a chance we have to take." Dolphin replied.

      "It's too risky!" Janyuu shouted.

      "It's the best chance we've got," Dolphin shook his head. "The Real World's counting on us!"

      "But what about the Digital World?" Janyuu asked through clenched teeth.

      "... Man, we hafta take the chance," Babel shook his head.  "The D-Reaper was a big deal, ya know?"

      "I know, but the damage the D-Reaper did both here and in the Digital World was nowhere near as bad as the consequences of Operation Doodlebug on the Digital World," Janyuu tried to explain rationally despite the fact that he felt like tearing his hair out in frustration.

      "... We did what we had to do, Tao," Dolphin leaned back.  "And we still have to do... what we have to do."

      "... That's why we have to attack Reapermon," Daisy agreed.  "With Operation Doodlebug Two."

      "It'll be like Operator Doodlebug... but this time, we won't let him escape!" Dolphin agreed. "He'll be completely wiped out."

      "... But what if it completely wipes out the Digimon too?!" Janyuu demanded.

      Dolphin glanced at the others, then coughed and leaned back.  He obviously did not want to answer such a question.

      "..." Janyuu stared at Dolphin and the others for a moment, aghast, before his gaze turned hard.  "... I won't be part of it.  Not this time."

      "Look, we need you and Shibumi!" Dolphin barked.  "We don't have time for this silent rebellion motion!"

      "I won't work on something that could wipe out an entire species," Janyuu said firmly, his voice low and deadly serious.  "I won't.  I won't force my son to lose Terriermon again, or for his friends to lose their partners either.  If I did I'd never be able to face him again."

      "... But what if you never see him again, period?" Dolphin looked at Janyuu, irritably.

      "... I trust my son and his friends," Janyuu said quietly.  "I know they'll come back okay.  Their digimon would sacrifice everything to make sure they come back alive.  The least we can do for them after all that we've done is to give them a chance to be reborn!"

      "... And if Reapermon kills them all?" Dolphin asked.

      "What if YOU kill them?" a small voice muttered.

      Shibumi looked up from his computer console to fix Dolphin with a level gaze. "What if you kill them?"

      "..." Dolphin's cheek twitched.

      "Operation Doodlebug caused the entire digital plane to implode in on itself.  What if Operation Doodlebug Two does the same thing... while the children are still there?" Janyuu asked softly.  "We'd destroy them AND the digimon so our work would be for nothing!"

      "..." Dolphin crossed his arms.

      "... Janyuu," Shibumi glanced at the other, and then smiled slightly.  "Would you help me over here?"

      "I'd be happy to," Janyuu nodded, smiling at Shibumi as he sat down next to the other man.

      "... What should we do, man?" Babel looked at Dolphin.

      "... They'll come around soon enough... we'll just get back to work," Dolphin sighed.

**_*~*_**

      "And then we had ice cream and watched movies and..."

      ChibiBa twitched.

      "And we played My Little Horsies and I got to be the princess and..."

      Ever since the Tamers found Shuichon fast asleep in the little room, which turned out to be 'The Perfect Little Girl's Room', complete with stuffed animals and wallpaper, they had found out just what kind of horrors Reapermon had done to her.

      "... That's nice, Shuichon," Jenrya sweatdropped.

      "And then we played with MAKE UP!" Shuichon giggled.

      "Looks like we didn't have to worry about Shuichon after all," Terriermon whispered to Jenrya.

      Unfortunately, those horrors included everything girly and enjoyable to a little girl.

      "And then we made cakes and cookies and, and-," Shuichon continued.

      Even worse, no one could get her to shut up about it.

      "... It's hard to imagine an evil digimon would go to such lengths to entertain Shuichon," Tsuyosa blinked.

      "And we drew pictures and played Candy Cane Land...," Shuichon ticked off on her fingers all the delightful things she and her 'hideous captor' had done.

      "..." ChibiBa twitched.

      Lopmon sighed, as she lay slumped on one of the incredibly soft pillows next to Shuichon.  Even if her Tamer did have the time of her life during the capture, the poor Rookie had been stressed past the limit with worry and fatigue.  The presence of the other Tamers was a certainly very much-welcomed relief by the rabbit-like digimon.

      "..." Tsuyosa glanced around slowly.  "... What are we going to do, though?"

      "The others are fine," ChibiBa grunted.  "So we should just worry about Little Miss Talk Too Much."

      "They'll be fine.  Takato, Guilmon, Ruki, and Renamon will be able to protect Sera.  They'll most likely find Beelzebumon, as he also disappeared through a similar portal," Jenrya pointed out as he walked over to grab Shuichon's hand, as the girl in question continued to ramble despite the fact that no one was listening anymore.

      Lopmon yawned tiredly before she hopped off the pillow she had been sitting on to follow after Shuichon and Jenrya.

      "And now that we've found Shuichon," Jenrya continued as he walked for the door.  "We have two digimon to protect us.  Terriermon and I can Biomerge while Lopmon can become her Ultimate naturally."

      Tsuyosa blinked and glanced at Jenrya, waiting for him to continue.

      "Two?" ChibiBa arched an eyebrow.

      "You're a great help too, ChibiBa," Jenrya added, smiling.  "You're a big asset."

      Tsuyosa tilted his head and waited for Jenrya to finish, then realized that he was when Jenrya proceeded through the door without even looking at him.

      "... And...?" ChibiBa pressed, suddenly rather agitated.

      "And?" Terriermon blinked.  "... And who?"

      "TSU!" ChibiBa snapped.

      "Oh, yeah, he's some help too," Terriermon waved a paw.  "When he's not getting sick."

      "Terriermon!" Jenrya frowned.

      "HEY!" ChibiBa snarled.

      Tsuyosa stopped short, as if he had been slapped, and stared as the others walked out without noticing he had stopped following them.

      "..." Tsuyosa slowly lowered his gaze to the floor.

      Something caught the corner of Tsuyosa's eye, causing him to slowly glance to his left.  He blinked slowly, and then stared as his eyes locked upon the tattered remains of the Leomon puppet.

      "... How'd you get in here?" Tsuyosa began as he walked towards the puppet, feeling drawn to it.  "... You're alone and forgotten too, huh?"

      Tsuyosa knelt down by the puppet, his expression soft as he looked at the truly pathetic-looking puppet.  "... You look so different now.  Sickly and discarded, almost.  ... Kinda like me."

      Tsuyosa picked up the puppet, glancing at the stuffing as it oozed out as if it were blood.  "... Is this what I look like?  All tattered and torn... and so disfigured that no one wants to look at you?"

      "Tsuyosa?" Jenrya blinked as he looked back, noticing the other Tamer was no longer with them.

      "Tsu!?" ChibiBa whirled; suddenly sensing something was amiss, and darted back in to the room.

      Tsuyosa said nothing as he held the puppet, oblivious to the blood stuffing as it oozed down his arm.

      "Uh...  Why're you holding a bleeding puppet, Tsu?" Terriermon asked, more than a little freaked out.

      "..." Tsuyosa stood up, staring at the puppet as it continued to ooze all along his arm and shirt.

      "... Tsu?" ChibiBa blinked.  "What's going on?"

      "Tsuyosa?  Are you okay?" Jenrya asked, suddenly having a bad feeling creep through him.

      "..." Tsuyosa hold the puppet up, looking at its face, and blinked.  "... You know what it's like, don't you...?  To be abandoned by everyone...  To be nothing more than an unpleasant thought that others wish they could be rid of."

      "... T-Tsu... what're you talking about?" ChibiBa squeaked, suddenly pale.

      "... Uh... Is anyone else getting creeped out by this?" Terriermon muttered, suddenly very wary.

      "... Hm, we ARE alike...," Tsuyosa tilted his head as one of his hands traced the cuts downwards.  "... My soul must look as tattered as you do right now."

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa squeaked, very much alarmed.  "What do you mean!?  What's going on!?  What're you saying!?"

      "... I don't like the feel of this...," Lopmon muttered, tensing in spite of her fatigue.

      "Big brother, why is he talking like that?" Shuichon blinked innocently at Jenrya before she looked back at Tsuyosa.

      "... I don't know, Shuichon," Jenrya muttered to his little sister.  "... Tsuyosa, what's wrong?" he asked the other Tamer.

      "... I wonder...," Tsuyosa's hand drifted lower.  "... If I even have a soul at all?"

      "O-of course you do!" ChibiBa felt very much afraid.  "Why... why would you say something like that?"

      "You're talking crazy, Tsu!" Terriermon exclaimed, his ears twitching.  "Throw the puppet away and stop talking like that!"

      "..." Tsuyosa paused, his fingers gently tracing the puppet's stitches.  "... Throw it away?"

      "Yes!" ChibiBa nodded.  "Get away from that thing!"

      "Yeah!  It tried to eat ya and everyone else, remember?!" Terriermon huffed.

      "..." Tsuyosa regarded the puppet.  "... No.  I won't."

      Tsuyosa slipped the puppet onto his hand.

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa squeaked.

      "... Hmmmm," Tsuyosa held the puppet up and regarded it, making it turn its head about and snap its jaws.  The blood slowly seemed to solidify, twisting about Tsuyosa's right arm and the entire right side of his chest and stomach in to solid tendrils.

      "Tsu-!" ChibiBa choked and darted towards his Tamer, then yelped and crouched back when Tsuyosa whirled to face him, puppet outstretched.

      "Yap, yap, yap, what ARE you barking about?" Tsuyosa chuckled; his eyes unnaturally empty as he sneered.  "You sound like a bunch of spoiled dogs!"

      The puppet snapped its jaws, then started to giggle as it seemingly started to heal, all of its slashes disappearing as it slowly engulfed Tsuyosa's arm in a mass of pink goop.

      "The puppet is controlling him!" Jenrya gasped.

      "Oh GREAT!  How do we get it off of him!?" Terriermon asked tensely.

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa whimpered.

      "Oh stop," Tsuyosa snorted.  "You never cared anyway."

      "... How... how can you say that?" ChibiBa's expression grew pained.  "Of course I care!  I've always cared!"

      "Hmmm," Tsuyosa tilted his head and smirked.

      "It's true!" ChibiBa cried out.  "It's that puppet, isn't it!?"

      "It's not him saying that, it's the puppet," Lopmon deduced as she eyed the demented puppet.

      "Hmmmmm," Tsuyosa tilted his head the other way as the puppet snapped its jaws, tail lashing.  "Maybe it is... maybe it isn't.  Maybe it's really me, saying what I've kept hidden for so long!"

      "No!" ChibiBa flailed.  "Tsu KNOWS I care about him!  You nasty piece of FLINT!  Let go of Tsu NOW!"

      "Hmmmm."

      "... It must be feeding off of Tsuyosa's negative thoughts like the D-Reaper did with Juri!" Jenrya exclaimed, eyes widening with realization.

      "But... but why would Tsu feel that way!?" ChibiBa demanded.

      "Maybe it has to do with how overprotective you are," Terriermon muttered.

      "Oh, yeah, he's some help too.  When he's not getting sick," the puppet snapped its jaws as Terriermon's voice crept out.

      "..." ChibiBa whirled to glare poisonously at Terriermon.

      "... Hey!  I didn't mean to hurt his feelings!" Terriermon protested as he held his paws up to ward off ChibiBa's anger.

      "Look!" Ruki's voice echoed through the room.

      Tsuyosa tilted his head and smirked as the puppet snapped its jaws again.  "Look at him!  He's practically useless!  He's either slowing us down or getting knocked unconscious!  Do you really want to endanger us and him!?"

      "..." ChibiBa twitched again, his lips curling up slightly.

      The puppet whipped about almost unnaturally and wiggled its paws.  "...  It was a bad idea to bring him," Ruki's voice continued.

      "Ruki was just worried about you, Tsuyosa," Jenrya said, hoping to get through to the other Tamer.  "She just has a funny way of showing it."

      The puppet snapped forward in to Jenrya's face, smirking.  "... You do have a point there, Ruki," Jenrya's voice 'sighed'.

      Shuichon clung tightly to Jenrya's hand.  "Big brother...  He's scaring me...," she whimpered.

      Tsuyosa whirled about, chuckling, as the puppet continued to wave its paws.

      "You know Tsuyosa can't help being sick," the puppet observed, still in Jenrya's voice. It giggled insanely and covered its mouth.  "Sick, sick, sick!"

      "We were all worried about you, Tsuyosa!" Jenrya exclaimed as he gripped Shuichon's hand comfortingly.

      "Worried about how I'd weigh you down," Tsuyosa snickered. "That's what you think when you see me. In the way!"

      "That's not true AT ALL!" Jenrya protested.

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa practically sobbed.  "I don't think that way at all!"

      "I can't handle it anymore!" a hysterical woman's voice filled the room.  "I can't live with this!  I can't live each day wondering if he's going to live or die!  I can't do it!  So what if he lives through this one!?  What about the next one!?  Or the next!?  I can't spend the rest of my life like that!  I wish he had died!  I WISH HE HAD DIED!"

      "..." ChibiBa paled as his eyes widened.

      "... Who the...?" Terriermon whispered, blinking slowly.

      Tsuyosa paused to stare at the puppet, curiously.  "... I was only one at the time...  I heard... but I didn't understand.  I couldn't comprehend what she was saying... but I heard...  So that's what she said when I didn't die from my attack?  So that's what mommy said..."

      Shuichon whimpered and moved closer to Jenrya, clinging to his leg.  "Why would your mommy say that?" she whimpered.  "Mommies don't say that!"

      "I WISH HE HAD DIED!" the puppet repeated in the woman's voice, then flailed and giggled hysterically.  "Dead, dead, dead!  Maybe everything should die?"

      Shuichon flinched and whimpered again, fearfully, as Jenrya held her closer to him.  "Tsuyosa, don't listen to the puppet!  It's just playing with your feelings!" he cried, hoping to get through to Tsuyosa.

      "So that's what mommy sounds like," Tsuyosa muttered, dazedly.  "I barely remember...," Tsuyosa paused, and then giggled insanely.  "She sounds so funny!  Does she always scream like that?"

      "Let's find out!" the puppet cackled.  "Let's kill her!  Let's kill everyone!  Then we can all die together!  No one will ever be alone!"

      "... Can Tsu even hear us?" Terriermon asked quietly, flinching slightly at the puppet's insane cackling.

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa darted for his Tamer, then squeaked when the puppet whirled to cackle at him.

      "ChibiBa!  You'll die with me, won't you?" Tsuyosa smiled.  "You won't leave me alone, right?  Everyone else does!  Even Takato!  But YOU'LL stay, right?  You'll stay right here and die with me, right?"

      "He's scary!" Shuichon whimpered as she buried her face into Jenrya's hip.

      "It'll be okay, Shuichon," Jenrya muttered to his little sister.  "We'll get that puppet off of Tsuyosa somehow..."

      "Tsu-!" ChibiBa's eyes widened with alarm.  "D-don't say things like that!  I don't want you to die!"

      "Silly ChibiBa," Tsuyosa chuckled, then stepped back as the puppet appeared by his head and snapped its jaws.

      "Enough talk!  We've gotta get that puppet off NOW!" Terriermon cried as he hopped off Jenrya's shoulder, landing next to Lopmon.

      "Rawr!" the puppet observed.  "They're going to attack you, Tsu!  They'll make you die all by yourself!"

      "Oh, we can't have THAT, can we?" Tsuyosa laughed.

      "We don't want to hurt you, Tsuyosa!" Jenrya cried.  "Stop listening to that puppet and let us help you!"

      "And who am I supposed to listen to?  YOU?" Tsuyosa smirked.  "You don't even want me around!"

      "Is even ChibiBa going to hurt poor Tsuuuu?" the puppet wiggled its ears.

      "... N-Never...," ChibiBa quivered as he stepped back.  "I wouldn't... I couldn't... not Tsu... I couldn't...!"

      "Hmmm," Tsuyosa grinned, then flinched visibly as the puppet twisted about, then snarled as a bunch of spikes burst out of its back.

      "Come get me, then!" the puppet snarled, suddenly sounding not nearly as cute as before.

      "Tsuyosa!  Please LISTEN TO ME!" Jenrya pleaded.  "The puppet is messing with your thoughts and memories!  It wants to kill you and all your friends!  It doesn't care about you!  It's just using you!"

      The puppet's button eyes seemed to flash as dark energy flickered up the puppet's spikes like electricity before it let a resounding 'rawr', blasting Jenrya and Terriermon with a powerful blast of energized sound waves.  Jenrya gasped and shoved Shuichon out of the way just in time to get hit, soaring backwards in to the wall.

      "Tsu!" ChibiBa gasped.  "No!  Don't!"

      "Big brother!" Shuichon cried as she saw Jenrya slump against the wall next to Terriermon, both Tamer and digimon unconscious from the strong blast and impact against the wall.

      Tsuyosa chuckled darkly as the puppet whirled about to snap its jaws at Shuichon and Lopmon.  "Awwww, sorry."

      "Shuichon!" Lopmon hurried over to her Tamer.  "Are you okay?"

      "Why?" Shuichon sobbed as she looked at Tsuyosa.  "Why'd you hurt big brother and Terriermon!?"

      "Aw, are you crying?" Tsuyosa tilted his head.  "As if you even know what pain IS!  You couldn't possibly comprehend!"

      "Sniffle, sniffle, temper tantrum!" the puppet growled, evilly.

      "You're mean!  You shouldn't hurt your friends 'cause you're sad!" Shuichon cried, tears trailing down her cheeks.  "You hurt them!"

      "Shuichon, that's not Tsuyosa saying that, it's the puppet," Lopmon tried to explain.  "It's making Tsuyosa do these things."

      "Mean?  I'm not mean!" Tsuyosa smirked.  "Why, they practically asked for it!"

      "Heh, heh, heh!" the puppet purred.

      ChibiBa shivered and covered his head, rocking back and forth as he tried to come to grips with what was happening.

      "They didn't!  You're just mean!" Shuichon sniffled angrily as she shakily climbed to her feet.  "You're mean, mean, mean!  Friends don't hurt other friends!  You hurt others WORSE than you hurt!"

      "Shuichon, please don't provoke him!  He'll hurt you!" Lopmon pleaded worriedly.

      "Yip, yip, yip, listen to her BARK!" Tsuyosa cackled, merrily.  "She has no idea at all, does she?"

      "She's too young and spoiled to know!" the puppet agreed, sneering.

      "I not spoiled!  YOU'RE spoiled!" Shuichon pointed an accusing finger at Tsuyosa.  "You got friends dat love you and you hurt them when they try and help you!  YOU'RE MEANEST OF MEAN!"

       "Please stop this!" Lopmon pleaded, although it was uncertain whether she meant Shuichon, Tsuyosa and the puppet, or all of them.

      "I have friends?" Tsuyosa blinked.  "Where?  I only see a bunch of vicious people who only tolerate you because you have something they want!  Is that friendship?  How can you have a friendship with a puppet?"

      "That's why we're both alike!" the puppet agreed.  "We're so much alike!  No friends, no soul, nothing!  Hee, hee, hee!"

      "You don't have friends anymore 'cause you're so mean!" Shuichon exclaimed.  "You hurt dem and make dem go away!"

      "Tsuyosa, please, stop this right now," Lopmon pleaded then pointed at the puppet.  "You're not the puppet, THAT is, and it's controlling you!"

      "I haven't done anything," Tsuyosa muttered, solemnly.  "They're the ones who can't see me as anything but a sick little boy to use for your own gains!  But that's not going to happen anymore.  I'm cutting own strings!"

      "And I'm going to cut YOU!" the puppet hissed as it sneered, claws forming on its little paws.

      "You hurt them!  You hurt my big brother and Terriermon!  You're hurting your partner!" Shuichon whimpered, both angry and fearful at the same time.  "You hurt everyone!  Stop it!  You're mean!"

      "I won't let you hurt Shuichon!" Lopmon cried as she held out her paws and ears in attempt to shield Shuichon from any blasts the puppet might try on them like it did to Jenrya and Terriermon.

      "Tsu...," ChibiBa snuffled, shaking.

      "Heh, you're right.  I'm mean.  Whatever," Tsuyosa's expression turned cold.  "Die."

      "RAWR!" the puppet agreed as it started to spark again.

      "Shuichon!" Lopmon cried out and quickly tackled her Tamer out of the way of another blast of energized sound waves sent their way by the puppet.  The Rookie grunted and grimaced in pain as the blast partially hit her and sent her flying a few feet from Shuichon.

      "LOPMON!" Shuichon cried, tears in her eyes as she scrambled to her feet and darted over to her fallen partner.  "Lopmon!"

      "Shuichon...  Run," Lopmon grunted as she staggered to her feet in spite of her wounds.  "I'll keep him busy... while you get away..."

      "No!  I won't leave you!" Shuichon sobbed as she grabbed Lopmon in a tight hug, accidentally aggravating the poor Rookie's wounds.

      "Yes, don't leave.  Die together," Tsuyosa growled as the puppet sparked again, eyes glowing.

      "Shuichon!" Lopmon grimaced.  "He'll hurt you!  Run!"

      "No!  DON'T HURT LOPMON!!!" Shuichon screamed as she looked at Tsuyosa and the puppet through tear-filled eyes.

      It was in that instant that Shuichon's D-Arc started to glow with a brilliant pink light.  The light engulfed both Tamer and digimon as it shone blindingly.

      Tsuyosa's eyes widened slightly in surprise as the puppet flailed.

      "Oooh, what, what, what?" the puppet squeaked.  "Rawr?"

      "... Evolution?" Tsuyosa furrowed his eyebrows.

      ChibiBa paused and then whirled to stare, horrified, at the sight before him.

      Instead of Shuichon and Lopmon, a large angelic-like rabbit digimon with a large frill around its neck hovered in its place.  Bright white and pastel pink, it held its massive paws out as if in a welcoming gesture.

      "... Cherubimon," Tsuyosa blinked slowly, immediately recognizing the Mega from his cards.  "... Lopmon's Mega..."

      "Rrrrrrrr," the puppet growled.

      "You can't attack Tsu!" ChibiBa yowled, instantly fearing the worst.

      "... I will save you, Tsuyosa...," Cherubimon whispered softly as she lifted her head, then blinked and squealed like a little girl.  "WITH MY POWERS OF LOVE!"

      "... Eh?" Tsuyosa blinked slowly.  The puppet blinked as well, then giggled insanely.

      "Silly! I'm not afraid of you!" the puppet sneered.

      "I can not forgive what you have done to Tsuyosa, Jenrya, and Terriermon...," Cherubimon said softly.  "In the name of love I WILL PUNISH YOU!"  She then stretched out her arms to her sides.  "HOLY HUG!"  Instantly she lunged at Tsuyosa with glowing hands and captured him in a bear hug.

      "Meep?" the puppet 'blinked'.

      Tsuyosa yelped in surprise as the giant Mega engulfed him in a hug.  He squirmed, trying to get free, as the puppet yapped irritably.

      "TSU!" ChibiBa squeaked.  "What are you DOING to him!?"

      "Freeing his mind," Cherubimon said as she held Tsuyosa in a firm, inescapable hug.  She glowed with a brilliant pink light, which in turn surrounded the Tamer because of her hug.

      Tsuyosa gasped sharply as his eyes widened, the puppet starting to yowl angrily as it smacked at Cherubimon with its paws.

      "Don't hurt him!" ChibiBa jumped about, torn between protecting Tsuyosa and letting Cherubimon get rid of the puppet.

      "I'm not," Cherubimon assured calmly, then burst out in an ear-to-ear grin.  "I'M SAVING HIM WITH MY LOVE!"

      "..." ChibiBa blinked.

      "Eee-!" Tsuyosa squirmed, then gasped when the puppet snapped about to glare poisonously in to Cherubimon's face.

      "RAWR!" it roared, then suddenly whirled and chomped down on Cherubimon's shoulder.  The puppet started to glow brilliantly as it dug its teeth in to the Mega's skin, letting out a deranged hiss.

      Cherubimon screamed as the puppet continued to glow, her own light dimming drastically before it disappeared entirely.  The puppet let go of Cherubimon as the Mega released her hold on Tsuyosa, falling backwards with a weak groan.

      "Eeee!" ChibiBa stared as the puppet licked its jaws as it watched Cherubimon de-evolve back in to Shuichon and Lopmon. The two looked highly roughed up and unconscious, as if the puppet had sucked their energy out and absorbed it.

      "... Looks like love really isn't that strong, after all," Tsuyosa muttered, then blinked as the puppet whirled to face ChibiBa, Jenrya, and Terriermon.

      "Yip!  Yap!  RAWR!" it cried, then snapped its jaws as its eyes glowed brilliantly.  ChibiBa let out a gasp as he started to hover in the air, along with Jenrya and Terriermon.

      "... ChibiBa, don't worry," Tsuyosa smiled at his partner, who stared at him in alarm.  "Everything will be okay."

      "...  ... Tsu..." ChibiBa whimpered.

      The puppet giggled evilly as it covered its mouth with its paws.

      "Rawr! Now the fun really begins!"


End file.
